[Nicki] Hi I'm Nicki Frey
and this is Candace Schaible.
We're with Utah State University Extension
[Candace] Today we're going to focus on winter deer damage.
We'll talk about ways to identify it and ways to avoid it.
Unfortunately a fence is the only sure way
to keep deer out of your yard.
But something like this just isn't necessarily practical
for the homeowner setting.
Today we're out here at Big Tree's Nursery in Kanaraville, Utah,
and they have a lot of trees that they're trying to protect from deer.
So this fence is a really practical thing for them in their large setting.
If a fence is something you're able to do, you want make sure
that it's at least seven and a half feet tall.
That it's nice and strudy, and that you keep the gate closed
so that deer aren't getting in there.
Today we're going to focus more on ways to exclude individual plants.
We'll talk about some repellents and some things you can do
as a homeowner to keep deer out of your yard
and away from your precious plants.
[Candace] Nicki, I haven't had problems all summer.
Why am I seeing damage now?
[Nicki] We'll that's actually a really good question.
There are two reasons to explain why you might be seeing damage
in the winter instead of in the spring.
The first is that most of the deer populations in Utah are migratory,
and so they've spent their summers up in the mountains
eating their native vegatation up there.
And then once the temperatures drop and the snow starts to fall,
they're forced down out of the higher elevations
into their winter range, which are usually the small valleys
and the benches in the area.
And so you may not have seen them all spring, summer, and fall
because they were elsewhere, but now they're winter range
and it just so happens that your backyard is their winter range.
And they don't mind being around you as long there's shelter
and food for them to eat.
If there is not native vegetation for them to eat,
they will eat your plants and your shrubs.
The second reason is that it's hard for deer to get the nutrition
that they need in the wintertime.
And so they may be eating the native forbs and shrubs
that are available to them at first,
but as the winter goes on and the temperatures decrease,
their nutritional demands are still the same,
but they can't find the food that they need.
And so, they're going to look for the young of your shoots on your plants.
They're going to look at leafy vegetation,
and they're going to look for terminal buds on the trees and plants
in your yard.
And so a lot of times you'll see, you might not notice the small damage,
like taking off the terminal buds, but you will notice something like this.
Where the deer have come in
after they've found everything else available to them,
and they've damaged this arborvitae.
They've taken off all the green vegetation and just left the twigs
and caused a severe amount of damage to this tree.
Another type of damage that you might notice to your trees and shrubs
is rub damage where the bucks have come in in the late fall and early winter,
and they've rubbed their antlers trying to get the velvet off of their antlers
during the running season.
So you might notice these long strips of where there is no bark.
Usually this happens between two to four feet.
If you happen to see it around five or six feet, don't freak out.
You don't have deerzilla running around your backyard,
you probably got the damage when there were two or three feet of snow
on the ground and the deer was rubbing their antlers then.
[Nicki] So Candace, once we do have damage on the tree from a deer rubbing,
is there something the landowner should to do keep this tree alive
and to prevent further damage?
[Candace] Ya. Nicki, actually the best thing to do
is just try and exclude the deer from the trees and shrubs
you're having problems with.
A little bit later on in this video we'll show you some ways
and give you some tips for excluding deer.
What you don't want to do is rub tar or any sort of commercial sealant
that's available to cover up tree wounds.
Those actually do a lot more harm than good.
They trap moisture and provide a great environment
for disease and insects to flourish.
So again, don't put anything on the wound. Leave it alone.
Let the air circulate and create some sort of exclusion
so the deer are no longer bothering your trees and shrubs.
Burlap barriers like this one here are a great way
to protect individual trees from damage from browsing and rubbing antlers.
Another great benefit to barriers like this
is they'll protect your evergreens from wind damage in the wintertime.
So if you're having a problem with either,
a barrier like this might be a great option for ya.
Commercial tree wraps are also available.
This one here is just a burlap that's been cut in thinner pieces
that you can wrap around your trunk.
And this one is just a paper that you wrap around the base of the tree.
And just secure either one with tape.
Unfortunately they won't protect your trees from damage
from rubbing of the antlers,
but they will help a lot with feeding damage.
Basically you just kind of wrap them around
and they secure themselves.
Then when you get to the top of your tree, just use a piece of tape.
And they work quite well.
Another added benefit to tree wraps like this
is winter sun scold is a common problem, especially on soft bark trees
like fruit trees.
And this will really help protect against that too, but that's a whole another topic
for a different video.
If you do have some browsing damage on any of your trees or shrubs
and you end up with broken branches or just bare tips here.
The best thing is to just kind of come in and prune out anything broken.
And then anything that's been browsed, just try to prune it back to a bud
or a branch so it's not just a stick hanging off the end there.
It just looks a little nicer. It's more aesthetically pleasing.
[Nicki] So Candace, I've mentioned before that deer are going to try to go
after the most palateable species and the most nutritious species
during the winter. Can you help us understand what this species this may be
and how we can find the best trees to plant to avoid damage?
[Candace] Ya, definitely.
Deer really like to eat plants with soft leaves
so they're going to love your euws, they're going to love herbivartae.
If you're having problems with deer, and you're looking to replace some plants,
or if you're starting a new landscape and you know that
you're going to have problems with deer,
I would definitely suggest planting somethings that deer
are not necessarily attracted to.
Unfortunately, a hungry deer is going to eat anything,
so no plant is entirely deer-proof.
But there are definitely some that are more resistant and can tolerate
the browsing more than others.
A great example is this blue spruce here.
Some others for Utah would be a Russian Saige,
and lilacs are also great choices.
There's multiple lists available online that can give you a great idea
of what would work well in your area.
A couple of my favorites are produced
by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
and there's another one by Rutgers University Extension program.
And they're both great resources.
I definitely suggest looking into those.
There are a lot of home remedies out there,
and unfortunately they provide spotty control at best.
I'm sure you've heard about hanging soap from a panty hose in your tree
or using human hair.
Unfortunately the deer are just kind of used to you.
So these things really don't provide consistent control.
So this is kind of cool.
It's a motion sensor sprinkler.
So you place this in the area where you're having problems with deer
and when they walk by the sprinkler will turn on and scare them.
Unfortunately, unless you live in a warmer climate,
this probably isn't a great winter option for you,
but when spring comes along if things thaw out,
it might be something that's worth trying.
Just make sure you tell your spouse where you put it in your yard.
Another way to keep deer from damaging your trees and shrubs
is to use repellents.
You can either use repellents that are made at home
or you could use a host of commercial repellents that out on the market.
There's two types of repellents.
One category is the contact repellent.
And as it's name suggests, deer actually have to come in contact
with that repellent for it to work.
With a contact repellent you actually spray it directly to the plant or tree
that you want to keep the deer off of.
Obviously in a nursery situation, that would be quite extensive,
but it is more acquitable
for those of use who just have a few ornamentals in the front yard.
Those contact repellents irritate the deer
and cause the deer not to go towards that plant again.
One home remedy you can use is a mixture of eggs and water
applied to the plant.
Some people have also been known to successfully use hot sauce.
The problem with the contact repellents or any repellent, actually,
is the durability.
If there's any moisture or any rain,
you have to immediately reapply that repellent
in order to increase its effectiveness.
And as with any repellent, the control that you receive
is going to be spotty at best.
Some of you might be thinking to provide an alternative food source
such as these pumpkins here, as a way to divert the deer
from the trees and the plants that you like.
That's actually a really bad idea because in the end
you're actually going to be attracting deer to your yard
where they will eat that supplemental food,
but they're also still going to damage your trees and plants as well.
[Nicki] Well we all enjoy watching deer in our yards,
in the wintertime they can actually cause problems
through overbrowsing our plants and trees
and from bucks rubbing their antlers.
[Candace] There are a lot of methods out there
for keeping deer out of your yard,
but not all of them are practical for the homeowner.
So hopefully the tips that we gave you today
on exclusion, repellents, and plant selection can help you out.