Cost effective deer-proof fence

[Cherie]

What is the cheapest way to keep deer out of my garden? We are moving into a new house and with all of the expenses that come with it, I really don't have a ton of money to pay for a fence. We will be surrounded by woods and I cannot imagine that deer and bunnies won't be a problem. Any suggestions for an inexpensive fence would be much appreciated!

 

[peachdejour]

I am wondering about this myself. We watched the deer in my neighborhood leap an 8 foot fence last summer. I had one mini tomato plant on my front porch and they ate all my tomatoes! I was so sad!

 

[Chuck]

What is the cheapest way to keep deer out of my garden? We are moving into a new house and with all of the expenses that come with it, I really don't have a ton of money to pay for a fence. We will be surrounded by woods and I cannot imagine that deer and bunnies won't be a problem. Any suggestions for an inexpensive fence would be much appreciated!

Here in Texas where I live deer are as thick as fleas on a dogs back. They are every where. There are a few products that repel them for a short time. The best of these is called Liquid Fence. I don't know what it is made from but when first sprayed it smells like rotten eggs. It works.............somewhat. You have to keep applying it and pretty soon the deer ignore it. Electric fences don't work at all. They can easily jump a 6' fence. Dogs do work if you can train them to stay by the garden and to not chase them. The only thing that does work is properly applied HVLP. It works every time

 

[ChanellG]

My suggestion is you plant something that is unfriendly to deer around the border of your home. On the outside of that border you could plant something that you don't mind the deer having a go at, and then inside the border you put enclosures around your plants. I'm sure deer aren't the only animals you're going to have to worry about.

 

[Bootsy]

Unfortunately, I don't think there is a cheap option. I tried to make mine as cheap as possible by putting in 8ft angle iron posts. On the bottom 3ft I stretched a stiff wire netting (more expensive than chicken wire ) to use a rabbit fencing.

For rabbits it's necessary to bury the wire about 4" deep and the bottom part needs to be at right angles to the fence and on the outside of the fence. Rabbits try to dig under fences but tend to only do it right up against the fence.

Above that wire I've stretched chicken wire but not tried to make it perfectly tight. This only has a minor effect but if a deer tries to jump the fence and doesn't quite make it they sometimes try to scramble over the fence. If it's not too tight the wire just bends and moves around a lot.

In addition to that I use a very old time deterrent. Apparently deer dislike the smell of soap and the plainer the better. Not any perfumed types. I buy big bars of the soap, cut them into 1" squares, put them into muslin bags and hang them on the fence - about every three foot. It seems to work and the soap lasts a whole season before it melts away.