Got deer? Normally when the food supplies dwindle in the woods the deer head for your plants! Unfortunately once they develop a taste for your plants they can continue to be a nuisance. Also, because of the normal rainfall yielding plentiful water, the deer become less stressed and populations can increase, so we get even more deer! Urban deer populations are very large and growing. They have adapted very well to the urban environment finding your landscape plants an excellent alternative to their normal food source. Once the deer browse the plants, especially during the late summer and fall, the plants won’t have a chance to recover until the following spring. In some cases the plants won’t recover at all due to the fact that too much of the plant was removed too late in the season. Deer seem to have quite a broad taste for plants, passing by some and decimating others. It is almost a given they will eat your most treasured plant!
Deer repellents such as Buck Off, Deer Away and Deer Off are fairly effective but must be reapplied after rain. Deer netting is also effective but the plant must be covered completely. Motion activated water sprinklers can also be used. Or you can get a dog! Coyotes work well also but don’t make great pets and also tend to eat your kitty cats but there is a 3-D coyote that does work well.
Rabbits can be a major browsing nuisance on your flowers and ground covers and populations have been growing recently. There are rabbit repellents, traps, netting, noise makers and other active and passive methods available for control. Control methods are similar to deer control methods. Rabbits usually feed at night so usually all you find is the result of their feeding activity. If you notice just the tops of low growing flowers bitten off, you probably have rabbit activity.
For Geese, motion activated water sprinklers can be used. Or you can get a dog! Coyotes work well on geese control also.Coyote silhouettes also are effective against Geese. There are also goose repellents similar to Deer-Away that work in conjunction with the coyote silhouettes. One product is called Flight Control. Goose control is accomplished by a multi prong deterrent program. A dedicated noise, visual, physical and chemical deterrent program must be used for effective control and the program must be continuous.
We are always asked where to purchase these pest control related products so we put together a page at our Prestige website. Visit our web site at www.prestigestt.com and click on Product Recommendations to see where to buy. Also an Atlanta based product referral sheet can be found here. CLICK ME!
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