Last year I wrote about our deer problem along with the moles, voles, slugs, chipmunk, rabbits and the natural deer repellent we were using.
Unfortunately, our hostas were pretty well eaten up before I had a chance to use the deer repellent and verify its effects.
This year, when we got back home in the spring, we noticed that the deer had already started on the young hosta shoots that were poking their nose up in the garden beds.
The Same Hosta as Above After Spraying with Deer Repellent
Well, at first I got very angry! I wasn’t about to lose all of our hosta leaves again this year.
I marched over to the shed and got out the garden sprayer. I went into the house and got a carton of eggs out of the refrigerator, cracked them in a bowl and mixed up the eggs with water — straining the solution through a sieve so that the sprayer wouldn’t clog.
I sprayed everything I could. I didn’t care if the experts said that the plant was resistant to deer or not. I’d seen deer forage on anything and everything.
This was war!
The result for our effort??The hostas are beautiful– lush and full! Our other plants look great too.
The plants haven’t been touched even though I’ve seen hoof prints here and there. We’ve had torrential rains and I thought that perhaps the rain would wash off the solution — but it stayed.
Red October Hosta Full and Undamaged
I have sprayed periodically, especially after a week of constant rain. I did make sure it was a dry day so that the solution would have a chance to dry on the plant.
The Slugs have Left the Hostas Alone
In fact, we have an abundance of rabbits in our neighborhood, and yet, they’ve left our plants alone, although they seem to be enjoying the greenery on the south and east of us. I can’t be sure of this but oddly enough we don’t have any slug damage on our hosta leaves like we’ve had in previous years.
We also haven’t had any vole problems, but that could be because we didn’t put down any mulch this year.
As far as the mole and chipmunk situation? My Honey seems to be ahead of the game on that. This is the mole trap we use. If you’d like to know how we control the other varmints — just ask and we’ll tell you.
Alla prossima.
Natural Deer Repellent – All Our Way
3 eggs in 5 quarts of water = 1.25 gallons of deer repellent
6 eggs in 10 quarts of water = 2.50 gallons of deer repellent
9 eggs in 15 quarts of water = 3.75 gallons of deer repellent
12 eggs in 20 quarts of water = 5 gallons of deer repellent
Beat the eggs with a whisk or electric mixer. Add some of the measured water and mix thoroughly. Pour the mixture through a fine strainer to remove any thick albumen (egg white) from the mixture. This will prevent the garden sprayer from clogging. We spray every few weeks and it seems to last. If you get a lot of rain it wouldn’t hurt to spray, just make sure it’s a dry day so that the deer repellent will stick and dry to the plants.
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