Market Farming

[Gregory Strella <gregory.strella AT gmail.com>]

Andy,

Looking forward to other responses.  We are located next to a large (beautiful) and un-hunted state park that marries with twenty acres of mature forest that lives in between our fields.  I joke that we're the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for the two or three dozen deer who frequent our land.

While I have more experience with (what I consider to be) expensive deer fencing, one thing we have learned is to adjust our crop selection and to match our various levels of fencing.  We have, as you indicated, been able to grow all of our alliums - garlic, leeks, spring/bulb onions with no protection and no damage.  

I don't have the dollars and cents in front of me, but we haveinstalled a 7.5' plastic mesh fence with 9' metal posts spaced at 30' around one two acre field.  This system failed miserably the first season when we had strawberries inside the fence.  When the system fails and deer enter the plastic mesh suffers from deer who inevitably exit the field by running through the weak fence and tearing.  Repairing this is a pain when intrusion is regular.

Last year we installed 30" two-strand polywire electric fence with insulated step-in posts at 30' and t-posts for corners and gates.  We use a solar charger for the whole length.  The fence is located roughly 3' to the exterior of the woven plastic mesh fencing.  This has made all of the difference during the warm months and we had no damage on the sorrel, peppers, chard, sunflowers, fava beans, raspberries, blackberries, herbs,  zinnias, onions, carrots, or other small plantings that we have grown in that field since we installed the electric fence.  Similar crops grown outside the fence have been devastated.  The polywire is baited with a metal caps and an apple scent to aquatint new deer to the low-voltage current that flows within.  I've seen this happen several times.  The deer could easily jump this arrangement, have not chosen to for quite some time.  Premier was our primary source for components and specifications.

In the winter, all of our crops are under row cover or plastic.  Because of this, the deer either don't know that they are there or choose not to bother.

Best of luck.  If not, I hope you like venison.

Greg

On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 6:08 PM, Andy Fellenz <artisanfarms AT gmail.com> wrote:

Low cost deer fencing - is there such a thing?  I'm looking for fencing to use on some rented ground next season to enclose two small fields one is ~ 2 acres and the second about 3.  I'll need either a solar charger or to use a 12V battery to supply power as power is not available.  I'm curious as to what has worked in the past and the approximate cost for the fence.  I've tried growing on this field in the past and have had severe damage to both my sweet corn and squash.  About the only things the deer have left alone in the past were garlic, cabbage and potatoes. 

Any suggestions or words of wisdom?

Andy

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--

Greg Strella
Farm Manager
Baltimore City Public Schools
Great Kids Farm

410.336.2312 (cell)
www.greatkidsfarm.org