What's Growing in the Garden

This is a Japanese maple we planted out front about 10 years ago. It has about doubled in size, maybe a little more. Notice it's inside a cage - if that wasn't there the deer would have destroyed it by now. Notice there's no branches or leaves outside the wire? That's because the deer take anything they can grab.
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And we moved out rhubarb bush to give it more sun. Looks like it likes it better here, we'll see.
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DLJeffs said:
This is a Japanese maple we planted out front about 10 years ago. It has about doubled in size, maybe a little more. Notice it's inside a cage - if that wasn't there the deer would have destroyed it by now. Notice there's no branches or leaves outside the wire? That's because the deer take anything they can grab.
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And we moved out rhubarb bush to give it more sun. Looks like it likes it better here, we'll see.
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Nice- we have to do the same. I had a walnut growing- somhow they got fence off it. gone now. grrrr
 
Since we are talking deer and tree damage, this was a dogwood before it was horned up. Tried to keep it alive over several years but this last season did it in. They’ve defeated our caging attempts. I can’t count the stuff we’ve lost to deer over the years. There is no deterring them.

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Tom Smart said:
Since we are talking deer and tree damage, this was a dogwood before it was horned up. Tried to keep it alive over several years but this last season did it in. They’ve defeated our caging attempts. I can’t count the stuff we’ve lost to deer over the years. There is no deterring them.

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What kind of dogwood? Most do poor in full sun and prefer partial shade. I'd use the 2 big stems to support fall fencing and protect the sprouts. Should have a replacement soon enough.
 
Mr. Peet said:
What kind of dogwood? Most do poor in full sun and prefer partial shade. I'd use the 2 big stems to support fall fencing and protect the sprouts. Should have a replacement soon enough.
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Kousa Dogwood. I started with 1 and it’s been very prolific. I have successfully transplanted more than half a dozen, gifted many and still have a small forest of 2-3 year olds to thin out. I’ll dig this out, it’s about the third in this location. Yeah, I’m a slow learner.
 
I've lost several trees to deer rubbing. Now I use rings of woven wire fencing around every small trunk/ tree and use an electric fence post to keep them in place. There is enough fence around here, the deer mostly stay away from it for fear of getting tangled. The fence is 47" tall with 10 ga on top and bottom and the rest 12 1/2 ga. If the trees are small, I use bird netting stretched around the fence to keep them from browsing.

I've found that they aren't deferred by lesser fencing. Someone gave me a small roll of the thin vinyl covered fence that I used around three smaller fir and an aborvitae and they mangled all of them.

Also use electric fence which is very effective. Once shocked they stay away from it wether it is on or not. When my orchard was small, I used a single strand across their normal path and it was enough for them to change their route and stay away from the trees.
 
Wish I could electrify my whole yard….

These deer are not shy about coming across our brick patio to browse the plants bordering the house. Several years ago a fawn was birthed directly under our window inches from the house.
 
Wow, at least here, the deer are still "wild" and seeing/hearing a human is enough to send them running.
 
Eric Rorabaugh said:
Lead poisoning will take care of them. Kill permits are an option
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I wish Vermont was more liberal with deer damage permits. We have a growing over population problem but fish and wildlife prefers to manage the problem by selling more in season doe tags. The problem is hunting access is limited where the problem is the greatest. So far we have not had significant problems but I can see it coming. Our winters have been realitivly mild lately and the winter kill is pretty low.
 
Our kill permits (wildlife damage permits) just became easier to get and more lenient. Now when you apply for one, it runs through the end of the year and unlimited does. Used to be we set a number of does and usually a 1-2 month time frame. Antlered deer are still very restrictive but not impossible to get.
 
We live in the most northern county in VA. The human population has exploded in the last 15/20 years. In the eastern half of the county, data centers are gobbling up acreage and former farms now grow townhouses. Huntable land is shrinking fast and the number of hunters with it. In the spring after the fawns arrive we used to see groups of 3-5 deer, now those groups are 10-12. We always rank close to the top of the county list for deer kill each year. The 24/25 season we were around number 3 or 4. Cars kill more deer than hunters. They no longer fear humans, if you approach they just look up at you, scoff and continue browsing. There are a lot of vineyards in our western half now and they use damage permits and push the deer off. Guess where they go.
 
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Eric Rorabaugh said:
Our kill permits (wildlife damage permits) just became easier to get and more lenient. Now when you apply for one, it runs through the end of the year and unlimited does. Used to be we set a number of does and usually a 1-2 month time frame. Antlered deer are still very restrictive but not impossible to get.
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Isn’t permitting on a State by State basis? Or is there a Federal regulation? Chuck
 
Tom Smart said:
We live in the most northern county in VA. The human population has exploded in the last 15/20 years. In the eastern half of the county, data centers are gobbling up acreage and former farms now grow townhouses. Huntable land is shrinking fast and the number of hunters with it. In the spring after the fawns arrive we used to see groups of 3-5 deer, now those groups are 10-12. We always rank close to the top of the county list for deer kill each year. The 24/25 season we were around number 3 or 4. Cars kill more deer than hunters. They no longer fear humans, if you approach they just look up at you, scoff and continue browsing. There are a lot of vineyards in our western half now and they use damage permits and push the deer off. Guess where they go.
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The most economical deterrent for me is electric fence but it's probably not practical for protecting individual trees and shrubs . A few strips of aluminum foil wrapped around the wire and baited with peanut butter is a good way to acclimate them to electricity 😂 this also works great for black bear.
 
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A total manageri in the greenhouse, it's still too cold for most outdoor growing. I did plant carrots, parsnips, beets, onions and shallots in the outside raised beds and the peas are poking out of the ground. The broccoli and cabbage sets could go out anytime but we have 2 days of heavy rain showers on the way so I will wait until those have passed. I've been planting radishes every week amongst the other greenhouse plants. I will probably plant potatoes in another week or so. IMG_20260513_085434998.webp IMG_20260513_085425476.webp IMG_20260513_085419241.webp IMG_20260513_085408322.webp IMG_20260513_085408322.webp IMG_20260513_085359762.webp 17786776923015307475643329355359.webp 17786777915793776974698232433544.webp 17786778520882324549794910360609.webp
 
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