Homemade DIY Deer Repellent

The deer are having a field day munching on my iris, day lilies and hyacinth and it’s driving me a bit crazy. Time to make some more of my homemade deer repellent. It’s easy.

Ingredients:

3 bars of Irish Spring Soap

2 Tbsp Cayenne Pepper

2 Tbsp Black Pepper

2 Tbsp Garlic Powder

2 C boiling water

First, grate the soap into a bowl. Add the spices. Pour in 1 ½ C of boiling water and mix with a spoon to start to melt the soap. When it seems nothing is melting anymore add ½ C boiling water to melt it a little more. Soon you’ll have a goop. I store the goop in a mason jar.

To use the deer repellent I scoop about ½ C of the goop into a small (beach) bucket and add about 2 C. of warm water to dissolve it a bit more.

Before you go outside be sure to wear some type of eye covering like glasses or sunglasses in case there is a splash – this won’t feel very good in your eyes.

I stick my hand in the bucket to get some on my fingers and then splash it on my plants. The goal is for the deer to nibble and taste the spices and Irish Spring soap which tastes terrible to them (and me too…). They will change their grazing patterns for a bit allowing your plants to grow. Be sure to get it on all of your plants that deer like. It washes off during rain so you’ll need to reapply but it’s fun to do while you take a walk around your gardens to say hello to your plants.

I try to do this every couple of weeks or as soon as I notice that the deer have found my gardens again. My kids used to help me with this when they were young. I’d don them with sunglasses and a bucket and they had a ball carefully splashing this on the plants.

It’s not fool-proof, but it does deter the deer so I keep doing it. There are different recipes,

but this is what I do. So far it hasn’t hurt my plants. Let me know what you think.

Wishing you all the best repelling deer from your gardens!