Forum: sustainability.stackexchange.com
Tags: <permaculture><pest-management>
Title: What is a permaculture solution for dealing with deer in a suburban environment?
Question: The old problem of the deer moving into the city.  My neighborhood is overrun.  So far the best solution I've seen to keep them at bay is fences or hedges.  The true permaculture solution would be to simply grow enough that the deer can eat their fill and there's still plenty for you.  But that's not tenable when you're working on a suburban lot and with deer population densities 10x what is found in the wild.  So, short of fences or hedges, anyone got any ideas?

Answers:
sents: text: Make up a batch of bone sauce and apply it to your tree trunks: The first pot is buried in moist soil leaving an inch or two above ground.
text: The second, upper, pot if filled with bones and a screen goes between the two pots.
text: Clay seals the pots.
text: A small fire is burned on top of the pots for about two hours.
text: Then the wood is pulled away and the pots are covered with dirt.
text: Let the pots cool overnight.
text: Carefully clean all of the dirt off so that no dirt ends up in the bone sauce / salve.
text: Grow plants that deer don't like.
text: They didn't touch my garlic last spring, but they ate everything else...
text: it's rumored that planting garlic around trees might keep them away
text: , I don't know how well this works if there's a lot of feeding pressure.
text: Grow lots of plants that deer do
text: like as a distraction to keep them from the stuff you want for yourself.
text: Grow "deer resistant" plants.
text: Elderberries are supposed to tolerate being munched just about to the ground -- the roots will send up new canes.
text: Get a dog; you'll still need a fence to keep the dog contained, but the requirements for a dog-proof fence are easier to meet than the requirements for a deer-proof fence.
text: See also questions where this has come up on gardening.
text: SE:
text: What is the best way to keep deer away?
text: What is the best way to prevent animals from eating my garden without a fence?
text: What is the best way to keep deer away?
text: I think the bottom line answer from that last question is this: You will also find suggestions to use bars of soap, human hair, dogs or getting a hunting licence.
text: These will work for some deer, some of the time
text: but if you want a solution for all of the deer, all of the time you need a fence.
text: I'm not suburban, but I have a lot of deer pressure, and the only thing that works for me is a fence (and it has to be a good fence).
text: (I haven't tried the bone sauce yet.)
answer_details: author: sustainability.stackexchange.com/users/66/bstpierre
score: 6
sents: text: Surely the most natural solution would be for the human population to reduce the deer population by eating them.
answer_details: author: sustainability.stackexchange.com/users/514/David Schofield
score: 4
sents: text: Nature's solution to an overpopulation problem would be predators or disease.
text: Introducing a wolf or two to the area would help cull the herd a little.
text: I'm less comfortable with the suggestion of spreading a deer-soecific disease, as it has a much higher likelihood of losing control.
answer_details: author: sustainability.stackexchange.com/users/136/Carmi
score: 3
sents: text: Toby suggested planting some fast growing non-delicious species around the perimeter, perhaps crabapple.
text: That way, the deer will stick to those instead of eating your food.
answer_details: author: sustainability.stackexchange.com/users/29/thatmiddleway
score: 2
sents: text: I put up an electric fence.
text: The deer wire is about 3 foot off the ground.
text: I take a piece a tinfoil
text: the size of my hand put a dab of peanut butter on it and fold it over, in half.
text: The deer are attracted to it, by smell, must touch it, get stung, then leave and never come back again.
text: I do not know why it works
text: but it has for me for several years
text: and I see deer in my garden during the winter when the fence is down.
answer_details: author: sustainability.stackexchange.com/users/2964/Mike Purnell
score: 2

Summary of the answers:
Suggestions for keeping deer at bay include an electric fence, applying bone sauce to tree trunks, growing plants that deer don't like, such as crab apples) or "der-resistant" plants. Others suggest introducing predators, such as wolves, or eating the deer.
Possible solutions include bone sauce, plants, population control measures and electric fences.