I have land in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia in Hampshire County. I think it's zone 7. It spreads from the Cacapon River and slopes up to an 1100 ft. mountain top. I would like to dedicate some of this land to a small orchard for family use (to start as a test for viability) and one of my main concerns is how to prevent deer from eating all the young trees. What other concerns should I have when locating, designing, and preparing the planting site?

-- Claudia Forbes-Hampshire Cty, WVA (claudiafforbes@hotmail.com), December 31, 2001

Answers

Dried deer blood around the area will help deter them. They avoid the smell of death that comes with it.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), December 31, 2001.

What I've done before was get some sented soap " Lifeboy, Dove, ect." put it in my wife's old nylons and hung it it the tree. When it rains it puts the sent out. Also when I'm out in the orchard I mark my territory just like a dog. A few well placed sprits around the area works well also. Good luck

-- herb (hwmil@aol.com), December 31, 2001.

Plant you trees where they can get the most sunlight, do you have southern exposure? As for the deer I have been told that horse manure repells them, so do dobermans. As a point of interest, I am about 30 miles from you, here in Purgitsville on the otherside of Romney.

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), December 31, 2001.

Our small family orchard is deer free, I think due to our Great Pyr dogs!

-- kim (fleece@eritter.net), December 31, 2001.

we live in the central sierra foothills and the deer are really a problem here, as are gophers. We have found it's best to dig a larger than needed hole and line the hole with chicken wire before planting fruit trees. That's for the gophers. Then you need to put four stakes in the ground around the tree about three feet from the trunk to use as a form for a circle of chicken wire to keep the deer off the trees. The deer will eat the leaves and strip the bark. Or make a fenced area for your trees. Make sure the fence is 8 foot high or the deer will jump it. We had to fence off our garden this way as well as dig a 4 foot trench around the perimeter to build a gopher fence. Lots of muscles developed in the process. We are planning on planting fruit trees ourselves this year. Good luck with whatever method you choose.

-- cindy palmer (jandcpalmer@sierratel.com), December 31, 2001.

Dogs!

-- buffy (buffyannjones@hotmail.com), December 31, 2001.

Claudia,

I don't know much about your land, but when you mention "slopes" and "mountain tops" I wonder if you have enough top soil (depth and fertility) to support many fruiting trees? Heck, I live in the Kansas flint hill grass country, and It takes some work to make the earth ready and supportive of sweet cherries and peaches. I'd guess you'd do ok with apples and small bushes (southern blueberries, raspberries, currents, figs, and etc), but I being ignorent of your land structure would concern myself with the effects of underlaying rocks, soil drainage, and ph.

-- Marty in KS (Mrs.Puck@Excite.com), December 31, 2001.

Plant your trees where you can see them from your window, within good firing range with a clear shot so you don't hit your neighbors. Once I started popping them with the pellet gun, my deer problems ended.

If you are not going to live there, how do you plan on watering them the first summer or so until the trees are established?

-- Just Duckie (Duck@spazmail.com), January 01, 2002.

I wish that horse manure repelled them but it doesn't. We had a scratch our heads mystery once. In one of our horse pens the water in a smallish tank would just suddenly drop its water level, overnight. We checked and checked for leaks and couldn't find them. Then came the first snow and low and behold there were a TON of deer tracks going to the tank. They were leaping the 6 ft fence and getting a drink.

I have heard that chicken wire layed on the ground would deter them, as well as rabbits, as they won't step on it. I haven't tried it but heard it works from others who have.

-- Stacia in OK (OneClassyCowgirl@aol.com), January 01, 2002.

Horse manure works for us. The deer were destroying our young fruit trees until we mulched deeply around each tree with it. End of problem. I read about this somewhere, something to do with similar species avoiding their own and each other's manure for parasite control. Stacia, I bet if there was horse manure in the water the deer wouldn't drink it. If it was clean, there would be no reason for them to avoid it. Horse manure in itself doesn't repel them - only the risk of ingestion.

-- Joe (botaur2@yahoo.com), January 01, 2002.

We are on our second attempt with an orchard. The first attempt failed as a result of deer jumping the >8 ft fence and ruining every single tree. This time we are trying a different approach with individual fences around each tree made from concrete reinforcing wire in 5 ft diamiter rings. I am also trying the soap technique using Irish Spring (supposed to work better - wait and see.) The scenting of your orchard is also a worthwhile venture but you can boost the effects by collecting a cup of male urine the morning after a meal containing meat (higher nitrogen.) Mix urine with 1 cup of household amonia and 1 gallon of water. The amonia helps stretch the nitrogen from your urine when you dillute. You can spray with a pump sprayer and most likely make it around your whole orchard parimeter. I know this is getting long so just 2 more suggestions. Baiting an electric fence with peanut butter covered strips of aluminum pie plate is supposed to be a memorable experience for your pests. Finally, try to find a copy of "The Apple Grower" either purchased or at the library. It is an invaluable book and has many other deerproofing ideas from a succesful organic grower.

-- Eric Childs-Belton, Tx (childs5@vvm.com), January 01, 2002.

If you can't keep large dogs in the area, the stinkiest bar soap you can find works very well, hang every 10 feet or so in the orchard area, replace as needed about once a month, depending on ambient weather conditions in your area.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), January 01, 2002.

We also had this problem in our orchard as well as the watermelon patch until we used DEODORANT soap in old knee high hose. We simply put a small piece of soap, small used pieces too little to shower with, work as well as a full bar, I think we cut a full bar into 4 pieces and used the cheap deodorant soap brand found at the Dollar Store. We just tied the hose onto the fence about every 4 feet around the patch and orchard. The deer were so bad that they were eating the leaves from the melons as soon as they were coming up. This was a total success.

-- BW in OK (go_rillagal@yahoo.com), January 01, 2002.

My neighbor says that if you put human hair clippings out around your orchard it will keep the deer away.

In our orchard, I put six foot t-posts in around the perimeter, then stretched two strands of 12 pound test fishing line around the posts. About nose and knee height. No more problems. I think the deer ran into the fence at night and since they couldn't see it, they got a little freaked out and left the area.

-- chuck in md (woah@mission4me.com), January 01, 2002.

Another solution may be a couple of CDs tied to the fence or trees around the area. The reflections scare them, but I don't know if they become adjusted to them.

If you have welded wire fabric, you can encircle each of the trunks of the trees, since deer girdle the tree bark and kill the trees.

Hope you find your answer or answers here. Good luck.

-- j.r. guerra (jrguerra@boultinghousesimpson.com), January 02, 2002.

Unless you have a particular spot in mind for the orchard, it may help to take a look at the area and see if there are any natural barriers. We put our small orchard in an area with a pond at the back, a road to the side, a double-fenced garden to the other side and our house to the front. While the deer do occasionally pass through, they don't hang out there and I've seen only occasional sign of nibbling. It's just not a convenient place for them to get to and doesn't feel safe to them I'm sure. Oh, I should add that we do have dogs so the area is well marked.

-- Sheryl in ME (radams@sacoriver.net), January 02, 2002.

i observe a lot of deer in the forest, and although some of them can jump a nine foot fence, NONE would try it if they couldn't see what was on the other side, they like to know what they are landing on. I've seen them jump over a fallen log that was 7 foot in diameter, in the forest, but I'm sure they knew damn well that there was just moss to land on on the other side. Also they need a good footing area to make their leap; If they can't take off, they can't fly! A friend down near Vancouver built her fence in old wicca style, taking the curved dead branches of ceder, lashing them together, with the arches outward. The deer couldn't see in, and even though she was growing apples and basil that they love, and could smell, she had no problems from the numerous deer. I built a fence 7 feet high out of old fishnets from the beach, I piled driftwood sticks and deadfall branches in a random crazy way that acted like a cattle guard outside the fence, so they couldn't get a good take off. Other people put the obstacles on the inside of the net. The deer don't like obstacles. Very few problems with an explosively large deer population on an island where they were introduced by some idiots. As mentioned by others DOGS work great, as do rifles, a few hides in the preparing to be buckskin mode, deer stew, etc. Beyond deer, you should carefully consider the soil, water, and sunlight requirement of the species you are intending to grow. There must be some folks growing fruit near you that can give you pointers about what they are growing, and how they are growing them. Given the information you sent, I'd say grow near the river, especially if the area there is south facing, and full of damp (read 'not dry') soil.

-- roberto pokachinni (pokachinni@yahoo.com), January 03, 2002.