The Dr. Bill FAQ

How do I keep deer out of my yard, without having to keep the gate to my driveway closed all the time?

Several callers had suggestions for solving this problem, the most innovative of which came from Chris Minx, a regular caller. He had seen an automated sprinkler that was triggered by movement, which would thus spray water at the deer. I should have thought of this myself, because I’ve seen this in several catalogs I receive. It’s 30″ tall overall, attaches to any garden hose and can be staked into the ground. It’s motion sensor can detect movement within 35 feet, and its sensitivity can be adjusted as well. When it does detect movement, it fires a 3-second burst of water, which should be enough to scare away a deer, or as Bill said, “pesky relatives too”. But I’ve only seen it available in two mail-order catalogs:

• Improvements: (800) 642-2112. Catalog number: 142000 (in the Spring, 1996 catalog), price: $99.99
• Alsto’s Handy Helpers: (800) 447-0048. Catalog number: 4390800 (in the Summer, 1996 catalog), price: $99.95

Also, KSFO’s garden talk-show host Bob Tanem has one recipe for keeping deer away from plants, and a book, Deer Resistant Planting ($5.95) that details many different varieties of plants that deer won’t even touch.

This page was last modified on Monday, 11-Oct-2004 20:04:19 PDT.

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