How to Make Homemade Deer Repellent

If you have a pesky deer problem in your yard, you can make deer repellent with a single ingredient or simple recipes. Most homemade deer-repellent recipes use a particular scent to keep the deer away. Unfortunately, some of these scents are also unpleasant to humans. If one deer repellent doesn't work, try the next one. You may find using a combination of these deer repellents is more effective, especially if you have plants that deer love to feast on, such as tulips, daylily, geranium, pansies, yew, laurel, forsythia, saucer magnolia and hemlock.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Drill
• Bar soap
• String
• Scissors
• Human hair
• Nylons
• Garden sprayer
• Eggs
• Large bucket
• Tablespoon
• Measuring cup
• Hot pepper sauce or powder
• Fresh garlic or garlic power or juice
• Onions
• Liquid dish soap
• Saucepan
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 4 tablespoons ground cayenne pepper
• Coffee filter
• ½ cup peeled garlic
• Blender
• 1 cup ammonia
• 1 cup Murphy's oil soap

Simple Deer Repellent

1. Drill a hole in bars of deodorant or citrus-scented soap and hang them on plants at feeding height or every 3 feet to establish a perimeter around the yard.

2. Wrap human hair in pieces of old nylons and tie the bundles directly to shrubs and trees. It will be easier to replenish this homemade deer repellent when the scent wears off if you work in a hair salon or know someone who does.

3. Combine a dozen eggs (without the shells) and 5 gallons of water in a garden sprayer and apply the mixture to the ground. The odor of the rotting eggs repels the deer but should not be detectable by humans.

Spicy Homemade Deer Repellent

4. Mix 2 tablespoons of hot pepper sauce, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder or juice, 1 tablespoon of liquid dish soap and 1 gallon of water. Pour the mixture into a garden sprayer and apply to plants weekly or after rainfall.

5. Combine 5 tablespoons of powdered hot pepper, 5 cloves of fresh garlic and 1 cup of chopped onions with 2 cups of water, cover the container and let it stand for 24 hours. Mix with 1 gallon of water and apply with a garden sprayer.

6. Bring 1 cup of vinegar to a boil in a saucepan, add 4 tablespoons of cayenne and boil for one minute. Strain it through a coffee filter into a bowl. Puree ½ cup of peeled garlic with 2 cups of water in a blender. Strain it through a coffee filter into the same bowl. Pour into a garden sprayer with 1 cup of ammonia, 1 cup of Murphy's oil soap and 3 gallons of water and apply.

Tips & Warnings

• Homemade deer repellents are more effective when they are applied as soon as the deer-feeding problem becomes apparent, and the deer have not established a feeding pattern.

References

• HGTV
• Motlow Creek Gardens
• Mercer County