Deer – Repelled by Pine Cones

Q: I have listened for some time to your listeners complaining that deer are chewing up their landscape. I believe I found the one thing that keeps deer from foraging on plants.

Several years ago we built a house on Hilton Head. About a week after moving in I got up one morning and watched a large buck feasting on my newly planted Fatsia. I chased him away only to find out a day or so later there were now three deer having breakfast at my expense. I went through all the generic methods of deterring deer…soap, hair, urine, pepper and on and on. None, of course worked.

I thought about it for a bit and came up with a cheap, natural, readily available and replaceable solution. It was PINE CONES! My wife and I went around gathering pine cones and placed them far enough out from the plantings we wanted to protect so that deer could not reach them without stepping on the pine cones… which they will not do. I made the bed about two cones deep. I also painted them a terra cotta color as added decoration. Whenever they break down, just add more. It worked beautifully.

A: Thanks – I’ll make a mental note!

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