Fencing is the only thing that will work if you live in the suburbs and have deer problems. There is a lot of cheap stuff but it ain't pretty. Does the job though.
The squirrels found my tomatoes, the only thing that was consistently doing well, about 2 or 3 weeks ago, about the same time I discovered the onset of blight. If they took a whole tomato I probably wouldn't even care, but they tend to take 2 bites out of them and move on to the next fruit. I just feel so discouraged. The soil has given everything it can and it wasn't enough for my peppers this season. I got a bit of jalapenos but I grew a total of 1 bell pepper. The eggplant and okra are doing ok. I am going to spend a lot of time over the next 6 months developing the soil and figuring out a reasonable enclosure because as much as I'd love to just shoot the squirrels with a BB gun, we have chain link fence all around and I do not need BBs going into neighbor's property. I wonder if they make squirrel proof netting?
Most plastic netting sold at stores should keep them out. You got a goddamned redwood forest to cover though! I'd just shoot the fucking things, if your in a more rural area, eat them.
Is there something that can be planted that they can eat instead of your veggies? Something they would like more? It seems like they will be there eating your garden no matter what, so why not plant something they like better? Is this possible? I don't have deer.
I've been dealing with this for decades now. Fencing is the most effective but looks like shit, defeating the purpose of having nice shrubs in the first place. We tried the deer proof plantings, but they just delay the inevitable. In the dead of a cold winter deer eat anything including holly leaves. The one thing that has worked without fail for me is the deer repellent spray - one that smells like coyote urine. The smell dies down a bit a few hours after spraying so you can still enjoy the yard. I spray our hosts and shrubs maybe once a week and the deer have never eaten anything I've applied it to.
I've had luck with Deer Off. You have to apply twice a month. It stinks for the first day, though. Also, if you use it, unscrew the sprayer when you're done, and dip it in a cup of water. Spray until you're just spraying water. If you don't, it will clog.
The suburban deer in my neighborhood laugh at you for handling coyote piss and still eat your stuff. I tried the rotten egg/garlic mix to no avail.
I feed four feral cats in my backyard that I had spayed and neutered. I never even see squirrels anymore. They used to do the same thing to my tomatoes but can't when they are all dead.
Easiest way to handle the deer problem is to turn them from deer into venison... then you can garnish them with the tasty bits that have now survived in your garden. And yep, no more squirrel problem since the cat arrived... for a while in the spring they used to just sit in the trees and yell at him, but now they've all fucked off. Easiest way to accomplish something similar is to put catnip near your garden... it will attract neighbourhood cats and they will hang out, get stoned, and chase stuff. Cheaper and less work than feeding them.
I'm not sure even my locality, which has confirmed multiple times that it would be legal to hunt deer in my back yard with a gun, would be down with me taking them out of season and no real way to get a nuisance tag. This has been me recently waiting for my tomatoes to ripen:
There are specific ways you are supposed to set up a fence to keep deer out but for a garden this would probably do the trick. It can run off of a battery or solar powered charger, about 100 meters long (318 feet ish). https://gallagherelectricfencing.com/collections/p-gallagher-smartfence-system
Certainly cool and easy to use. Pricey as fuuuuuuuuu. I'll eventually get electric fencing since it can be cheap and it'd probably let me have enough room to work on the outside of my plants that are currently against the regular wire mesh fencing.
I just linked that because it's the easiest to set up. A roll of wire, a couple posts, a ground and a small charger might be a lot cheaper. They also do a netting that for sheep and what not that would probably be a bit cheaper. There are other brands, i'm just a touch more familiar with this one.
We have a place called Princess Auto that is similar to your Harbor Freight, I believe. They sell things like tools, more tools, electric motors, hydraulic rams and components, trailer parts, etc. They also sell really cheap irrigation and electric fencing components. You don't need to buy the expensive pre-created packages, you can buy the raw stuff way, WAY cheaper and build it yourself. So does our local Home Hardware, who has a better site for showing you the various pieces parts and Canadian pricing: https://www.homehardware.ca/en/cat/...lies/Fence-Products/Electric-Fences/_/N-ntjm8 You get the idea... you can buy the energizer, fencing, poles, insulators, etc., individually for a fuck of a lot cheaper than that fancy looking thing posted. Not that it doesn't look cool and all.. it's just expensive. Here's a quick YT video I found showing the installation of an $80 electric fence kit found on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/TRU-TEST-820...rt-20&linkId=594a70971f54b23189b4257ec8722848 It's fun! (Needless to say I no longer have squirrels on the deck).
An electric fence won't do shit for deer unless it's 8 or 10 strands and 8 feet high. Even then, the first one will get spooked by it and tear it all to hell, and then the others will walk right in. Of course, I live in Georgia where our deer are dumb and fearless.
It seems like the only effective way to immobilize or train the deer is to deliver the electric shock to them... like a Taser... Being in Georgia, surely Crossbow Tasers exist? Problem solved... and you now have real food to garnish with the stuff out of your garden.
Went absolutely nuts fertilizing my tomatoes last week. Four or five times the recommended amount of fertiziler, etc. I figured that the recommendation was for upkeep, not to handle a serious deficiency. Needless to say they've come back amazingly well. All dark green, no more yellow leaves.
I pulled a tomato hornworm off my tomatoes the last two days. First one did no damage but the second one did a lot and it was fucking small, not even an inch yet. Damn do I hate those evil looking things.
Ive kept up a weekly thuricide spraying to keep out ahead of those neon green bastdards. For tomato fertilizing you're gonna want to stay away from high nitrogen varieties. It produces a shit ton of leafy greens but little on the actual tomato setting.