Plants to Grow in Deer Country to Attract or Repel

Deer love to eat and will devour most plants that look lush and yummy. This includes plants in your garden such as peas, corn, alfalfa, wheat, oats, apples and sweet potatoes. Deer will also eat mushrooms, bark, grass, seeds, nuts, ferns and clovers. Mushrooms that are poisonous to humans can be consumed by the deer. The bark of the maple, dogwood and aspen trees are also deer food. They usually eat acorns and when those are gone they start in on other plants.

To keep deer out of your garden your first defense would be a well built fence. This does not always work though because deer can jump high. You can place plants around the perimeter of your garden to keep deer away. Plants they generally dislike would be honeysuckle, lilac, potentilla and balsam firs. There are others you can use but make sure the plant is not poisonous to humans because you will be growing it close to your garden.

If you chose you can use deer repellents. You must read about what you're getting carefully because some of them smell horrible. Deer Scram is a good choice for a repellent. Its organic, doesn't wash off in the rain, doesn't smell bad and is a fertilizer as well. You spray it on and around your plants to keep rabbits and deer away.

A homemade deer repellent could work just as well. The mixture should never contain any harmful chemicals. You want to use natural, safe ingredients that when combined together make a spicy or terrible taste the deer will not like. You can look up recipes on google if you're interested in doing this. The recipes usually involve hot sauce, garlic, cayenne peppers and other hot peppers. If you use this method make sure it is not so hot that it could hurt the deer. You want to make it unpleasant so the deer won't try to eat plants in that area again. You will have to reapply the mixture often because it will wash off in the rain.

Attracting deer to your yard is fun if you're not worried about your plants. Deer love to eat alfalfa and clovers. These plants are easy to grow and low maintenance. A salt block will also drawn them near. Throw out handfuls of acorns and corn or make a pile. In some states it is illegal to willfully attract deer to your yard. It is because some hunters do this to only shoot the deer. Make sure its not illegal in your area before taking action.