# How do you keep deer from eating broccoli plants?



## Booberry85 (Jun 5, 2011)

I'm fairly certain I have deer eating my broccoli plants. I'll check them in the morning and they be nothing left except maybe an inch of stem. I'm looking at doing a third planting.

Around the broccoli patch are daisies, speedwell, salvia and Jerusalem artichokes (a few daffodils too). The idea was to have a natural fence around the garden. I thought these were suppose to be deer resistant and thus deter the deer (nothing has gone after these plants, just the broccoli). There is no fence around the garden. I really don't want a fence. I just ripped out an ugly metal wire fence earlier this spring that wasn't doing much to keep animals out anyway (Rabbits could dig under it. Deer could jump over it.)

It the second planting, I mixed in a few marigold plants, think the smell of the marigolds would keep them away. That hasn't worked.

Should I just pot up some broccoli and have it on the deck in pots?


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## GunMonkeyIntl (May 13, 2013)

I put a 3-strand solar-electric fence on 6' T-posts around my whole garden. I know that a deer could jump the 5' to get over the top wire, but none have tried it so far. The garden is well into tasty-time for them and I haven't had a single deer track in the garden so it is doing its job so far.


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## Our Little Farm (Apr 26, 2010)

Tall t-posts either end of row. Wire strung between and bird netting over the top in tent like fashion. Rocks at bottom or pegs. Chunks of Irish Spring soap around the bottom. They hate it.


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## K.B. (Sep 7, 2012)

Double fencing - two rows of 4' high fencing that are 4-5' apart works like a charm. I use welded wire fencing material.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

I've yet to see deer eat any brassica in our community garden complex. Deer don't like to eat anything which can cause gas since their digestive system isn't designed for that. However, number one target for groundhogs is broccoli. They'll pass through a dozen other plots to get at it. If you have them around, that would be your best choice of culprits.

Martin


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## a'ightthen (Mar 17, 2012)

I can't swear to it being deer but ...

March 24, 2009 I set out some broccoli plants ahead of a storm ..










I checked on them a few days later and all seemed fine. I checked on them again on the 29th and found nothing but deer tracks 










Think that I even noted the taste in one of the roasts that Fall LOL!

Saw them eat squash leaves last year ( first time ever) ... I wouldn't put anything past the rascals.


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

If you don't want a fence, then what about individual little chickenwire cloches for each plant? Maybe once you get them big enough, they will be left alone.
However, frankly only tall fences are deer resistant.
I did read an article once about a lady who surrounded her whole garden with a double row of rhododenrons. Whe said once they grew high enough to obscure the deer seeing into it, it worked fine. But that's a long haul time wise.


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## K.B. (Sep 7, 2012)

I leaned on my pitchfork and watched a doe munching on some poison oak about 10 feet away across my garden fence this morning. I gave her a golf clap. glad someone can make use of the fool stuff!


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## geo in mi (Nov 14, 2008)

On the chance it could be deer, I enclose my vegetables behind electric fencing.............brassica, tomatoes, green beans, squash, strawberries, etc, etc. I had a fawn dropped in the woods last week, so I know they will make nightly trips, grazing away. The clovers aren't up enough yet to deter them. My deer are more like cows, so the fence works pretty well.

For ground hogs, they will get more lead from me than they get brocolli from the row........

geo


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## bak2tn (Dec 19, 2007)

Plant beans, strawberries and sweet potatoes and I'm pretty sure they'll be too full to bother with broccoli. They have never touched mine but they sure like to wreck all that other stuff


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## DarleneJ (Jan 29, 2012)

We tried this guys idea about two weeks ago. So far, so good. We did have to lower the line as we had ours set too high at first. The deer around here are so brazen you'd think they were raised in a petting zoo. :/

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_ySzNEuuKc[/ame]

Our neighbor has white handle bags tied to posts around his garden. They blow in the breeze. He said he'd heard that white is a danger signal for white-tailed dear. I laughed and said I was glad he told me. I was gonna just copy his idea if the one we tried didn't work out. Can you imagine blue, brown, yellow, pink and whatever bags blowing all around our garden and none of it making sense to the deer! Oh well...


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## Whistle Pig (May 13, 2013)

Quick hooks and row covers can be cheaply done and extremely effective! Herrick kimball is the Whizbang guy and he has some very innovative ideas for gardening solutions including row covers which are the best pest deterents. He used to give away his ideas for free at this website but he recently released a book with all his ideas!

http://whizbangrowcover.blogspot.com/

I will be doing a review of the book in the coming months but if you're interested, here's the link to getting his books and his great ideas!

http://amzn.to/11P3CWY

Farmer Dickie


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

We have discovered a particular vine to be a deer deterent around here, i.e. Virginia Creeper; so I encourage its growth wherever I see it in the garden/orchard/vineyard.  However, I really like Bak2tn's idea of feeding the deer what you don't want to harvest for yourself.


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

A .30-06 and a freezer always works for me.


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