North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <ginda@concentric.net>]

Electric fences can work well against deer, especially if they have
other choices of places to browse.  I know a man who kept deer off his
property for months with some pieces of wire after one of his neighbors
put in an electric fence.  (Then they caught on.)  Depending on your
tastes, they can be less ugly than a board fence.

Ginda Fisher
zone 6

zapala@hotmail.com wrote:
> 
> This has been a disastrous year for horticultural activities here in
> northeastern Vermont.  Records for rainfall were set in April and
> May, and nights were cold.  There was very little sun.  As a result,
> there was very little pollination. Most of my 100 or so apple trees
> are fruitless and, the few that do have fruit, are of such poor
> quality that spraying at this point is of little value.
> 
> Because of the excess rain in April and May, I was unable to attend
> to orchard activities - grass went unmowed, for example.  I just
> couldn't get out there - and I wanted to clear grass from around the
> base of the trees to fertilize them, but couldn't get to that either.
> 
> The poor growing conditions extended to all other areas - I had to
> plant some veggie seeds twice (they rotted in the ground the first
> time), tomato plants are big and healthy but don't bear much fruit,
> cukes and squashes are slow growing, etc., etc.  We have had no warm
> nights to date either.
> 
> One thing the rain did was to make trees and other vegetation really
> grow by leaps and bounds - everything is lush and verdant.
> 
> In addition to the foregoing, the deer have been especially voracious
> this year.  They practically destroyed about 20 apples trees I
> planted in the lower orchard last spring ('99).  They were Hazens and
> Sweet 16s and Hayer.  All that's left are some bare branches at the
> top of the central leader which is intact on all of them. It's all
> very discouraging.  Of course, what is needed is a bullet - but deer
> are nocturnal and I don't feel like hunting at 3 AM!  Otherwise,
> someone's suggestion of a board fence is the other alternative.  But
> they are really ugly and I hesitate to go that route.  And it's
> expensive too.
> 
> Another year is coming.
> 
> Regards,
> Armando Bona
> 
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