deer fodder
Judy Glattstein (Sat, 21 May 2005 10:22:01 PDT)

"Know your enemy" is my mantra here on Creek Road where the deer peer in
the kitchen windows, perhaps seeking coffee to go with the salad bar.

A state game biologist in Connecticut once told me that if you
fertilized just two rows in the center of a 2 acre bean field that the
deer would eat the fertilized rows for preference. So yes, nutritional
value is a factor. Pregnant and nursing does eat the new growth on roses
in my garden, but once the does stop lactating, leave the rose bushes
alone. Look at a deer skull (flip it upside down, and you don't need the
mandible) and you'll see there are no teeth to the rear, and there's a
nice hollow about where we have our soft palate - I guess that's how
deer manage thorny things like roses, and perhaps even stringy things
such as yucca (which I am convinced they use like floss after eating
softer, juicier plants.).

Deer, so I've been told, do not digest their food with stomach acids as
we do. Instead, they have enzymes, which vary from herd to herd
depending on what they eat. Does teach their fawns what mommy finds
palatable, and the young ones generally follow family tradition. But if
they start eating something new the enzyme composition will alter. So
deer can be adaptable to what's available.

Fritillaria imperialis and F. meleagris are untouched in my garden.
Amaryllidaceae must be highly unpalatable / poisonous, since they are
generally uneaten, as are many Ranunculaceae.

Other categories of plants usually passed over in favor of tastier
items: those with highly flavored / scented foliage = most herbs. Fuzzy
leaves = lamb's ears, Stachys byzantina, and even, I can testify,
Rhododendron yakusimanum. Ferns. Ornamental grasses.

Milorganite is my preferred repellent at this time of year. Since it is
odoriferous, and I scatter the little beads on the ground, it remains
effective as plants continue to grow. Anything sprayed on the plants
must A) be reapplied as plants grow, and B) be reapplied after a heavy rain.

Gardening is such a joy. <grin>

Judy, who having finished lunch is headed back out to the garden