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Are deers eating my runner beans? - Jayne (28th Jun 2007 - 20:24:46) I have just moved into one of the new houses on Lark Rise and adore living here. I have started to try to make my garden look nice with pots full of bedding plants until we can afford to landscape it! I woke up yesterday to find all my pansy, rose, carnation and begonia heads had disappeared! My Runner beans are now little twigs in a grow bag!! Could it be deer from the field eating them? If yes, what can I do to stop them humanely? Any ideas would be gratefully received!

Re: Are deers eating my runner beans? - Barry Hope (28th Jun 2007 - 22:01:40) Hi Jayne, I'm no expert but were all the items you mentioned not too high off ground level. If not could it be rabbits. Only answer if it is would be to put a fence round the beds and see if that stops them. Only trouble is, if it is rabbits the fence would need to be dug deep as they are very good at digging under a loose fence. Hope this helps. Best wishes Barry

Re: Are deers eating my runner beans? - Freddie Dawkins (28th Jun 2007 - 22:59:35) Hi, Jayne - The deer were here a long time before Lark Rise and they are a wonderful site in the fields. They regularly get into the fields from the back of the Shell Service station at Griggs Green. They used to come over the earthbank into my garden in Headley Road. Usually early in the morning. My dogs put them off most of the time but I bet they still wander into my old neighbours' gardens! If they really are a nuisance, put up a higher fence. It's worth getting up early though and watching them graze and then bound off across the field if they are disturbed. btw - there have been adders up in the field, along the line of oak trees, towards Headley Road. Watch out for them on really sunny hot days. They like to sunbathe. But once the temperature drops, they disappear back into the hedges. And have you seen the grey pheasants breeding in the fields at the back of you? There's at least two young pheasants hatched and running around the field for the past few weeks. Freddie

Re: Are deers eating my runner beans? - oscar (29th Jun 2007 - 09:38:57) The best thing to keep deer away is human hair. Go to the hairdressers and ask for a bag, then fill up a few stockings and hang them around your garden. If this fails, give me a shout and i will bring my shotgun round !! oscar..

Re: Are deers eating my runner beans? - Paul Robinson (29th Jun 2007 - 12:35:39) Sprinkling Lion, Tiger or other big cat do do's along your beds will do the trick. This has proved so popular that Marwell sell bags of it off, give them a ring.

Re: Are deers eating my runner beans? - Candyfloss (29th Jun 2007 - 18:38:21) Oscar How could you!!!!. Most of what you write has me in stitches and it usually is what I think - but never say. Until now. I know how frustrating having your prized flowers/veg eaten can be, but to even suggest (in joke perhaps) to shoot deer. They are one of our most magnificent animals and should be welcomed. Protection of your own gardens is the only way to stop them grazing on your lovely new sweet delights.

Re: Are deers eating my runner beans? - oscar (2nd Jul 2007 - 09:45:48) candyfloss, Awww nice to know you care. But it was a joke !!! You use a rifle to shoot deer not a shotgun . So rest assured bambi is safe !! Any way i'm far too busy trying to run Gen and her golfing buddies over in my white van !!! Oscar

Re: Are deers eating my runner beans? - Candyfloss (2nd Jul 2007 - 10:05:34) Oscar Have you succeeded in running Gen over.? She has not posted recently - since some kind sole told her to shut up as no one else was enjoying the site any more. I was!! Gen may have got her knickers twisted over some postings - but on the whole her postings were harmless and quite funny. Perhaps not always her intention.

Re: Are deers eating my runner beans? - oscar (2nd Jul 2007 - 10:26:21) No, she runs too fast !!!! Every one has the right to be heard , Gen has always been fair with her opinions and she is a good poet !!Come back Gen ..

Re: Are deers eating my runner beans? - Freddie Dawkins (2nd Jul 2007 - 14:57:01) Oscar - Shotguns are good for deer close up. I know a few "country gentlemen" who use them!

Re: Are deers eating my runner beans? - liz (2nd Jul 2007 - 16:48:39) Sound like inhumane idiots that would not fit well with serious sportsmen who are good shots and can therefore cope with a rifle.

Re: Are deers eating my runner beans? - Freddie Dawkins (2nd Jul 2007 - 19:34:16) Liz - I was being ironic. The "gentlemen" I refer to might otherwise be called poachers. I don't see much point in killing deer from a mile away with a high-powered rifle - unless it's humane and licensed culling.

Re: Are deers eating my runner beans? - Steve Read (2nd Jul 2007 - 19:53:00) Got my balloons in place for the heron, scares him off but the deer just look at them and carry on eating everything in site. Oscar, tried the old hair trick including adding an unmentionable item to it. Nah, not bothered. Freddie, to cap it all the bloody moles have returned from next door. I'am off to get an AK47 at the weekend. Oh and by the way you can get shotgun cartridges for deer.

Re: Are deers eating my runner beans? - Freddie Dawkins (3rd Jul 2007 - 10:15:06) Steve - Triple A's are the best, allegedly.. I've never seen a man dance up and down so much on a patch of grass, as when the local mole man blasted Mr Mole through 4 inches of neighbour's lawn with his shotgun. Seriously. He'd come back after a week of trapping along Chiltley Way - and nothing. As he took the last trap out, he saw a pile of earth moving on other side of the lawn. Quick as a flash he grabbed his 12 bore and bam! - goodbye Mr Mole. Not sure if he was big enough to make a pair of gloves, but hey, lawn looked pretty again. I prefered the sonic deflectors - pushed Mr Mole sideways into neighbours...

Re: Are deers eating my runner beans? - liz (3rd Jul 2007 - 11:29:57) Freddie You've made my point for me - humane and licensed culling uses a high powered rifle.

Re: Are deers eating my runner beans? - Susie (3rd Jul 2007 - 16:23:18) My mum had the same problem a few years ago, she brought a device that connects to your garden hose (from Princes garden centre). It stands about a foot off the ground and has a sensor if anything crosses it then it rotates and fires water at high speed. Did the trick, don't forget to turn it off though if you're walking past it bloody hurts it you get hit by it!

Re: Are deers eating my runner beans? - Candyfloss (3rd Jul 2007 - 18:51:50) Susie Sounds good for 2 footed intruders too!!

Re: Are deers eating my runner beans? - Jayne (4th Jul 2007 - 11:57:04) Thank you so much for all your ideas. I'd forgotten about the rabbits, although my rose buds were about a metre from the ground so I think it was probably deer. I shall invest in some big cat dung (if that wasn't a wind up) and I like the idea of the water pistol! Fingers crossed next year I'll have some sweet peas in my garden ;-)

Re: Are deers eating my runner beans? - Freddie Dawkins (4th Jul 2007 - 14:05:07) Jayne - You can start a thread anytime - just look where we meandered! Good luck with the sweet peas.

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