I've found the Holy Grail

[Vinca]

of deer repellants. For years my hostas, daylilies and veggies have been a fast food buffet for the local deer. No more! I mixed 3 dozen eggs in the blender and strained them, added them to a plant spraying bottle with 5 gallons of water and sprayed everything. Not one plant has been touched! The stuff's been sitting for about 2 weeks now and "rotten egg" smell is an understatement. Word of caution: if you mix up a batch wear gloves while spraying after the mixture gets really ripe. Eau de egg is very difficult to remove from the hands. It does fade after you spray it on the plants so only the deer can smell it.

[uppityperson]

1. That sounds interesting. Does it stick through rain?

Did you let it sit and get more odorous before you sprayed, or did you start spraying right away? we have slugs and deer and I'm always looking for hints.

[Vinca]

2. Right after I mixed it (and before it became putrid), I sprayed

around for about 3 days in succession. It rained for a few days, so I sprayed again. The stuff still wasn't too stinky, but it seemed to do the trick. No sign of deer damage. I sprayed again after it got horribly smelly and I think that might do it for a few weeks. I got this tip from someone who got it from a Christmas tree grower. Reportedly, one spray around the edges took care of the deer for the season. I'm too nervous not to spray every so often. I want to see my hostas this year! I have one "control" spot where I sprayed daylilies on one side of the road, but not on the other. The unsprayed plants are being munched and the sprayed ones aren't. Deer really hate eggs.

[uppityperson]

3. Thanks, I'll have to try this.

Was thinking about painting with eggs and how it dries hard. We get mist/drizzle a fair bit where I live (pacific northwet) but this sounds like a workable thing.

[Gold Metal Flake]

4. Would this work for rabbits?

What WILL work for rabbits?

[TygrBright]

5. A dog. A FAST dog. Who likes to eat hasenpfeffer.

Alternatively, an air rifle and lots of vigilance.

helpfully,
Bright

[Mind_your_head]

6. I've used Dried blood meal to keep rabbits away

from my garden and it's worked. There isn't any smell that we humans can detect, but the rabbits smell a "kill" area and stay away. I don't re-apply after every rain or watering though - every 3-4 weeks seems to be enough.

<snip>
Dried blood meal. It sounds a little gruesome, but it's quite effective in deterring rabbits. Dried blood meal is a by-product of the meat-packing industry and can be found in any gardening center. Sprinkle some around each of the plants in your garden -- or sprinkle it around the entire border of your garden, if you like. Rabbits don't like the smell, and will usually stay away. The dried blood meal will have to be reapplied after you water your garden or after every rain shower.
<snip>
http://www.howtodothings.com/home-and-garden/a3214-how-to-get-rid-of-rabbits.html

[AlecBGreen]

7. urine

if youre in a secluded area, nothing beats a good pee round the edges.

[Kolesar]

10. Don't forget to turn off the electric fence

There's a story going around work about a crane technician who got the nickname "Sparky".

From what I have been reading, urine is a great source of the nutrient nitrogen. And it's sterile.

[LiberalEsto]

8. Irish Spring soap

It's worked very well for me.
We hang bars of it, wrapped in old knee-high stockings, in the young trees, to discourage the hoofed rats from rubbing against the bark.
My neighbor and I use cheese graters to grate Irish Spring around our hostas and azaleas.

[Vinca]

9. An update on the holy grail - it gets better.

I've changed the formula to about a half dozen eggs to a gallon of water because the other mixture got too gross and CHUNKY after sitting around and it clogged the sprayer. Except for one little deer nibble in the hosta garden after days and days of rain and a munch on an unsprayed tomato plant (deer usually hate tomatoes), the stuff has worked beautifully. The important thing seems to be freshening (or rather "stinkening") after heavy rain and about once a week. Here's where it gets better. The smell has apparently confused the garden bugs. By this time I'm usually fighting off cucumber beetles, squash bugs and those green caterpillar thingies that get on broccoli. There have been almost no bad bugs in the garden. The plants are the best they've ever been. I'm still concerned about the honey bee situation which was bad to begin with, but so far the cucumbers and summer squash plants are producing veggies. I have no idea what is pollinating them. Maybe bumble bees. In any case, it appears the egg mixture is good for fighting deer AND bugs. A previous poster mentioned Irish Spring and, in the past, I've had fairly good luck with that, too. The egg mixture is working better for me, though, and is cheaper overall.

[uppityperson]

11. Do you have racoons? I wonder what they would think of the mixture.