Planting Under Trees - Part 9
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- Marge_Talt
- Daffyclay
- Marge_Talt
- Cottage_Garden
- Marge_Talt
- Cottage_Garden
- Marge_Talt
- Cottage_Garden
- Daffyclay
- Marge_Talt
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» Marge_Talt - Well, Clay, sounds like you have strewn the path <b>to</b> your
Well, Clay, sounds like you have strewn the path to your new Hosta bed with enough tempting goodies to keep the deer occupied. If they mow all those down, they well may be too full to jump into the rest of your garden :-) Too bad you can't do some temporary fence or other to keep your dog confined to that narrow area. They sure wouldn't jump in and join the dog!Marge
Gardening in Shade
-- posted by Marge_Talt
» Daffyclay - Deer and Dog
Marge,The dog is a joke, and I was making the comment in jest. The dog is very loud and makes a lot of noise, but the worst bite this dog has ever given anything, is a biscuit.
Lap dogs don't make good watch dogs. I'll be glad when my step daughter and her husband return from England and take the a . a .a dog back.
With the fence, I should be able to put a real dog in the fenced yard to add a little security against the deer, however, if I did that, I would miss the fox family that comes to visit quiet often and probably would not have anything to grip about when the racoon didn't come and raid the bird feeders once in a while. However, I now have the bird feeders too high even for the racoon to stretch up to get above the baffles.
-- posted by Daffyclay
» Marge_Talt - dogs n' deer
Hi Clay - threw me a bit seeing "DaffyClay" :-) I will never get used to aliases!Anyway, I know what you mean about lap dogs, but I bet even the one you have would go into a total frenzy if a deer popped into the same space it was occupying!
Also know what you mean abou the fox. We have one and I really enjoy watching it. Once, on a lovely early summer's day, I happened to be looking out of the conference room window - wishing I were outside and not chained to the office inside - and I saw it dancing on a wood chip pile. That's the only word I can use - dancing - it was obviously enjoying itself and the day. The one we've got has a red head and tail and a grey body...kind of a hybrid, I think.
Raccoons, I have in quantity. We would have to hang the feeders from skyhooks to keep them out - and somehow, I think they would manage to figure out a way to fly to get to them.
I do hope your fencing works. Mine still has some weak spots as the dratted deer are getting in. Not the part where I put the wire down - that seems to be working, but where I have brush and it's not thick enough. When I get done prepping for my new plastic greenhouse, it will be back to the woods to gather every bit of deadfall I can handle and create even more brushpiles outside the fence line so they can't get near it!
Bambi is a lot of work!
-- posted by Marge_Talt
» Cottage_Garden - New Variation Deer Fence
Just came across a description of a new style of deer fence in a University of Illinois publication from a year or so back.Slanted Fence May be the Answer to Deer Problems
Charles O' Dell, Extension Horticulturist in small fruit and vegetables from Virginia Tech University has been working on deer
exclusion methods for strawberry growers in Virginia. An option he is recommending to growers is the electrical slant fence,
designed by the Gallagher Corporation in New Zealand. A cheaper fence than the 8 foot conventional woven wire design, the
slant fence is a seven strand, 5 feet high, electrically charged fence, which is sloped at an outward 45 degree angle. Designers
suggest that the angle of the 5' fence creates a 3-dimensional visual effect, which confuses the deer, which would normally jump
a fence of this height. Reported cost is about $1.00/running foot plus labor.
-- posted by Cottage_Garden
» Marge_Talt - deer fence
Thanks, Barbara, for the info. I do believe I've read elsewhere about slanting fencing outward, but I'd not read "why".I've spent more time than I care to think of recently patroling around the outside of the fence I put between the garden and the deer in the woods, trying to see it from a deer's point of view since there seem to be still some weak points where the *&^%%'s are getting in. Knowing that outward slanting things confuse them helps as I am busily dragging every stitch of deadfall over to create a maginot line to keep them far enough from the fence so they won't jump it. Heh, heh...a bit more amunition for "my side" in this war ;-)
Even $1.00/ft. is a bit steep for my pocket as I figure that line of fence is about 250 feet long...sigh...but it sure beats the cost of 8' of wire mesh.
-- posted by Marge_Talt
» Cottage_Garden - Outriggers, costs and damage
I'm not sure if the cost is valid in homeowner terms -- you'd need a charger, plus supports (could use trees) and insulators. The wire is dirt cheap though and at my house has as many uses as duct tape.I have also heard that an 18 inch or so outward slanting outrigger added to the top of as normal 7 or 8 foot fence would help.
Guess who left the nongate to the veggie garden open and lost the tops off all her newly planted bareroot daylilies?
(We don't really need to go into why they are only newly planted except to comment that this certin ly demonstrates the hardiness and steadfast survivalist tendencies of said plants.)
If you add up the restaurant tab I think even $250 might be cheap. But what a waste of perfectly good plant money!!!!!!
-- posted by Cottage_Garden
» Marge_Talt - deer fencing
Well, Barbara, far be it for me to inquire about, ahem, planting in November :-) But, if you gotta stick something in late, daylilies are certainly best candidates, tough little beasties that they are.Well, if my herculean efforts at fencing and Maginot line constructing fail this year, electric fencing is my next best option. My only concern about that is that the woods are full of undergrowth in summer and I've been under the impression that you have to keep a clear path around the electrical wire or it shorts out. That could prove to be a full time job around here!
Have you any idea how far apart posts or support trees can be for electric fencing?
-- posted by Marge_Talt
» Cottage_Garden - Pretty far
Pretty far if you don't mind a bit of a sway -- maybe 15 feet. Closer for that taut sort of tidy and efficient look. The insulators support it from point to point rather than pull it taut.Overhanging branches and underbrush could be a problem in the woods. In a pasture setting the stuff has to be weedwhacked, bushhogged or sprayed regularly to avoid fire. In a dry year it is sort of a nightmare, hoping you can get all the way around again before it sparks somewhere.
If you only electrified a couple of the strands (try that peanutbutteronfoil trick?)(eeeewwww) you could maybe avoid some of the maintenance.
Clay is a farm boy --he should know!
-- posted by Cottage_Garden
» Daffyclay - Eectric Fence
Marge and Barbara,I was a farm boy 37 years ago!!! Shhhhhhhhhh!
Electric fence does not have to be taut, but should be tight enough so that it doesn't sway more than a generous 6 inches. 10 Feet centers (from the center of the pole to the center of the next pole) is common for normal stock fences, however fifteen feet should do fine for a light electical fence. Fence posts usually don't have to be substantial, also.
However, when you get these things there is usually instructions with them. The height above the ground is the critical distance. If you have a 6 or 7 feet net fense, with an electric fence on top, the wire should be support enough that it does not droop below the top strands of the net fence.
I found that the "cows" on our farm would crop grass from under the fence as far out as they could reach without actually touching the fence, sometimes 30 inches. However, for a garden, I don't think the deer will keep the fence line clean for you. As Barbara said, you have to weed wack it or "round-up" it.
If you were like me, and it wasn't in my front lawn, I'd just ignor the weeds and grass unless they were getting tall enough to interfer with the electric fence.
-- posted by Daffyclay
» Marge_Talt - electric fences for deer control
Hmmm..Barbara and Clay...thanks for the info. I didn't realize the electric fence could set of sparks...ack!Well, since I'm talking wild woods here, weed whacking isn't really an option unless that's how I want to spend my entire growing season. But, Clay, the idea of putting a wire on top of the plastic net fence sounds like it might avoid that problem if I prune any branches that might overhang. Of course, then there's the ever-present honeysuckle, poison ivy, cat's claw, wild grape and Virginia Creeper to keep an eye on - they'll climb anything.
Well, we'll see if I am at all successful with my current ploy this winter. If not, I will end up reviving this thread as I call for help on getting electrified around here.
Barbara, I've read about the peanut butter/tinfoil method. Someone on Gardens posted that they only had to actually run the electricity in their fence in spring, to teach the new fawns about the fence, when they used that method....evil grin ;->
-- posted by Marge_Talt
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