Beside the Stream

I tie on bars of Irish Spring soap to deter deer, while Bob uses a less subtle approach: he sprays the foliage with a product called “Liquid Fence”, layering the chemical soap scent with the odors of rotten eggs and garlic.   

 The price tag on this gallon jug reads “$124.99″.  He must have bought it when he bought trees, because that’s the only way he could have justified the cost.  Our deer herd could take down a young tree overnight, and this is the only deer repellent I’ve seen with a money-back guarantee (and it’s organic).  This is the second year he has been using this single gallon, and it’s still 2/3 full.  Liquid Fence’s motto is “It Really Works“, and it does… so when you think of it as a garden-saver, the $40 of Liquid Fence Bob sprayed on the foliage last year was a bargain.

Meanwhile, two longtime gardeners I know swear by their old-time homemade deer repellent:  

Beat together 2 eggs, a cup of milk, and a few cloves of pressed garlic.   Add a dollop of cooking oil and good squirt of dish soap, shake it well, and put it in a tightly capped jar for a few days of sun.  When it is ripe, add it to a gallon of water; spray liberally on any foliage you want deer to avoid.  (Vary by adding a tablespoon of cayenne.) 

When I read the fine print, it turned out that the ingredient list for Liquid Fence is putrescent egg solids, garlic, sodium laureth sulfate (soap) and potassium sorbate, a preservative.   So Bob paid $125 for a jug of rotten eggs, garlic and soap, the exact same deer repellent that our friends make in mayonnaise jars.  Woops!

It makes me think that while the people at Liquid Fence use the motto “It Really Works” on their label, they might have a different motto in-house.  I’m guessing it’s something like “I can’t believe that people will pay such inflated prices for rotten eggs and garlic.”  Of course, now that I have the recipe we’ll never ante up for Liquid Fence again.  And now you have the recipe, too. 

Excellent recipe.