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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Deer and European Plums

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  • From: Steve <sdw12986@aol.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Deer and European Plums
  • Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 14:37:09 -0400

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




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