How to Save Money When Buying agriculture deer fence netting

Protect Your Garden against Deer at Reduced Cost

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• Gardeners' Options: Pros and cons of electric and barrier deer fences, deer-resistant plants, and deer repellents
• Garden Deer Fence Design: A brief look at double deer fences, slanted deer fences, and super-tall (8-foot) deer fences
• How to Save Money: Ways gardeners can save on deer fence materials and installation

Gardeners' Options for Keeping Out Deer

Deer destroy lots of gardens, so it's hardly surprising that we've developed lots of ways for gardeners to defend against them'the most prominent (besides barrier deer fences) being electric deer fences, deer resistant plants, and a wide range of deer repellents.

Electric Deer Fences work ' sometimes too well. That's because gardeners don't like being powerfully shocked, even if the shocks are harmless. Also, electric fences need frequent (daily) checking to make sure they are still working. For both reasons, electric deer fences have not found high favor in the gardening community.

Deer-resistant Plants may work. How well they work depends on the plants used, the local deer involved, the plant preferences of those specific deer, and how hungry the deer may be. Within this context, plants that resisted deer fine one year may be eaten to the ground the next. Sadly, with occasional exceptions, this garden-friendly method tends to meet with limited success.

Repellents can work for a time. There are lots of them ' sprays, noisemakers, motion-activated water gizmos, the list is long. Many can keep deer away to one degree or another without making vegetables smell or taste bad. But the deer get used to them. What's worse, the gardener doesn't know when that's happening. The first sign he or she may have is when the garden gets devastated. Hence, all too often, repellents in their various guises prove unreliable.

Barrier Deer Fences work well so long as they are properly conceived and installed. The main problem is their cost. No question about it, barrier deer fences cost money. So it's worth glancing at design and other cost-related factors with an eye to cost reduction.

Deer Fence Design

Double Fences and Slanted Fences: Researchers have found that both relatively short double fences and taller outward-slanting fences will reliably keep out deer. Trouble is, these options are expensive ' because in the case of a double fence one is actually building two fences; and in the case of a slanted fence the slanted posts and fencing need much stronger support than those of an ordinary vertical fence, especially against falling tree branches and snow. So, by and large, these options should be avoided.

Extra Tall Fences: Lots of would-be deer fence experts recommend that garden deer fences be 'at least 8 feet tall' because they know deer can jump that high. But deer won't do that just to get a meal. In fact, careful research by the US Department of Agriculture has shown that even mildly panicked deer will rarely jump a 7-foot fence.

Our own experience reinforces this. When McGregor Fence first opened 20+ years ago, going on the advice of an experienced deer fence trouble-shooter, we sold almost exclusively 7-foot fences. We also offered inexpensive 2-foot extenders that we dubbed 'anti-jumping insurance'. Lots of people wanted these extenders; but we told them to wait, put the fence up, and call us if they needed the extenders. Guess what? In 10 years, nobody ever called. This isn't scientific proof; but it's pretty good anecdotal evidence that in virtually all cases a 7-foot garden deer fence will do the job.

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Indeed, growing evidence suggests that in many cases 6-foot garden deer fences will work. This evidence is not as firm as our finding that 7-foot fences work in virtually all cases. However, it's strong enough to show that in places where regulations ban taller fences, 6-foot deer fences are definitely worth installing.

How to Save Money on Garden Deer Fences

Generally speaking, avoiding the temptation to build a double deer fence, slanted deer fence, or 8-foot deer fence for your garden will save you money. Here are some other ways to save:

Corner and End Braces: The large, highly visible post braces featured by many vendors add significantly to the cost of garden deer fences. So don't use them. Don't use any braces if the sides of your fence are less than 30 feet long, because unless you are using some sort of tensioning system you don't need them. If one or more sides of your garden are over 30 feet long, use our earth anchors instead of brace posts and save hundreds of dollars.

People tend to reject earth anchors because they don't like having cables hanging outside the garden fence. You can avoid that by installing each anchor one post back ' between the corner post and what we might call the 'corner approach post.' This requires two anchors at each corner instead of one, but the cost of these anchors is very low.

Wooden Posts: Unless you love the appearance of wooden posts around the garden, avoid them. They're not expensive to buy, but unless you have a mechanized post pounder on a truck, they are expensive and time-consuming to install.

Cement Footings: Unless your soil is very loose, you need very few cement footings. We recommend them mainly for your gate support posts, because if the gate posts move even slightly the gate may stop working. The only other place you may want to use them (unless your soil is very loose or sandy) is at the fence corners and ends. For more on this see our blog on cement footings.

Post Spacing: Especially if you are buying kits, don't get talked into buying too many posts for your garden fence. We recommend a post spacing of 10 to 15 feet. That is, we recommend a spacing between posts of 10 feet for all garden deer fences in snow-prone areas (places with an average of 20+ inches of snow per season). For other areas, so long as you're using a top support wire, you are well advised to save money by increasing your fence's post spacing to 15 feet.

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This blog post is being written by a deer fence seller. So your author has every reason to feel good about deer fences. That doesn't change the fact that other deer exclusion methods tend to be unreliable, while properly designed and installed garden deer fences are noted for their long-term effectiveness. The main drawback of such fences is their cost. So, for anyone beginning a garden deer fence project, it's worth finding ways to reduce the cost without reducing the fence's reliability. The aim of this post is to assist in that direction.

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