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[Steve <sdw12986@aol.com>]

Thanks Lon.
Actually my first defense will be the "driveway alarm" I bought 10 or 12 
years ago after a bear walked through town one night and ate my entire 
crop of sweetcorn. I put the motion detector part out last night aimed 
at the direction of the plum trees. Then I forgot to plug in the indoor 
part that sounds the alarm. As it turns out, I don't think they came 
back last night anyway. I also have an electronic scarecrow that mostly 
gets used to keep geese off the lawn. Maybe I'll move that up near the 
garden for a while.
If they get past those defenses I'll definitely mix up some eggs!

Steve

Lon J. Rombough wrote:
> You've got deer that are inexperienced with what you are growing (hence 
> the slightly nipped tomatoes). They're trying things to see what they 
> like, and obviously the plum took their fancy. Daylilies have a slightly 
> pungent odor that probably put them off. Also, in a situation where they 
> are being highly alert, they don't like to bend down to feed as they 
> can't look around as easily. Yours may start feeding more on lower 
> growing things as they hang around more. At this stage a repellant such 
> as egg spray should encourage them to move on more readily.
> Spray = 4-6 eggs thoroughly liquified in water with a high speed 
> blender. Pour into 3 gallon sprayer and fill with water. Spray on any 
> area they reach. Repeat after individual shoots grow six inches, OR two 
> heavy rains, or two to three overhead waterings, whichever comes first.
> -Lon Rombough
> *NEW grape pruning video: http://www.bunchgrapes.com/dvd.html View a 
> short, low resolution clip here: 
> *http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q58zFY0B1M
> Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, *The Grape Grower, *at 
> http://www.bunchgrapes.com Winner of the Garden Writers Association 
> "Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003.
> A video about The Grape Grower : 
> http://cookingupastory.com/index.php/2008/04/18/the-grape-grower/
> On Jul 19, 2009, at 9:53 AM, Steve wrote:
>
>
> Do deer have a special fondness for European plums?
>
> A few days ago I was in my yard and discovered some unauthorized pruning
> of a young plum tree. Mostly, just leaves were eaten off leaving stubs
> lining the little branches. Some of the soft tips of branches were
> chewed off too. Two of the branches with missing tips were a good 6 feet
> off the ground. A nearby American Hybrid plum had just a few missing 
> leaves.
> Yesterday, I discovered my other, even smaller, European plum now has
> some missing leaves and missing branch tips. So far, neither tree has
> lost even 10% of its leaves so it's not too serious yet. I live right in
> town where I didn't used to have to worry about deer. In recent years
> they started showing up in the fall. (I discovered they like fallen
> pears far more than apples.) Only rarely has there been evidence of a
> summer visit.
> Here's the weird part. Directly below the eaten branches of that first
> tree, there is a clump of day lilies in full bud, just days from opening
> the first flowers. Not a bud had been touched. Also, the plum trees are
> not 20 feet from my vegetable garden. I found 2 tomato leaves with
> missing ends. These were at the far end of the garden away from the plum
> trees. Other than that possible deer damage, nothing has been touched.
>
> Steve in the Adirondacks