# To whom ever needed a deer repellant



## abax (May 4, 2021)

The name of the product is Repels-All made by the Bonide Co. and is available at Lowes.


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## Tom-DE (May 10, 2021)

what about ticks?


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## abax (May 10, 2021)

stay out of the woods


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## Tom-DE (May 11, 2021)

LOL! ...but I am in the woods.


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## abax (May 11, 2021)

So am I.


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## Tom-DE (Jun 5, 2022)

abax said:


> The name of the product is Repels-All made by the Bonide Co. and is available at Lowes.


Just for the need of some first-hand info here: How long have you been using this product, pros, and cons? For the last 16 years or so living in the woods, I finally have some deer problems this year(recently)--some young deers started to come into the yard and ate quite of a few of my landscaping plants.


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## abax (Jun 5, 2022)

Pro is that it works. Con is that rain washes it off and it must be reapplied.

Oh my, how long? Some number of years, I suppose.


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## Ray (Jun 6, 2022)

In PA, the deer and groundhogs cleared out our hostas on a regular basis. I don’t recall the name of the repellent that finally worked, but it contained fermented egg whites.


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## BrucherT (Jun 6, 2022)

Get Irish Spring soap. Quarter it. Drill holes through, run a string, hang every 3 to 4 feet from deer-attracting shrubs. Cheese-grate one bar and sprinkle it around tender stuff. Reapply every 2 weeks. Also, they hate Milorganite.


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## southernbelle (Jun 6, 2022)

I’ve tried about everything having grown roses and daylilies, both of which they love. They get used to anything after a while, but what I’ve had the best results with as a spray is BOBBEX. It has a smell AND taste deterrent, so is very effective. It lasts a couple of months when applied to plants and ground around. I’ve used it for 2 years so far, and they’ve not gotten used to it. I think the taste repellent is the secret as other products are smell only. I use it for hydrangeas, hostas and daylilies. At the time I had roses (before BOBBEX), I ended up using a low voltage electric fence with 3 wires. 4’, 3’ and 6” (for rabbits). But even then, I had to put scent caps with cotton balls soaked in an apple scent on the top wire. They would lick the scent cap and get a reasonable shock and run off usually not to return. Without the scent caps they are too well grounded with tiny hooves and thick hides for it to get their attention.
Regarding ticks: okay, this is where you will certainly think I’m weird, but so be it, you asked…. Having survived (and gotten well) from neurologic Lyme with treatment over a four year period from 2000-2004 (IV antibiotics for almost 2 of those), both my husband and I are real serious about ticks. Yes longer treatment works despite what CDC says, as I failed 90 days of IV antibiotics the first time. It knocked it down, but two months later it was back in fury. The only repellent I can recommend is REPEL WITH Permethrin. Get it online and get the REPEL with the highest concentration of Permethrin you can find. Permethrin also kills them, as well as repelling them. However, this CANNOT be applied to skin! Spray boots/shoes and pants legs to knees or so. It lasts for two weeks on clothes and gear. They make kids clothes impregnated with it, that last through over 50 washings. Clothes are pricey, but some think it worth it. We also have a mosquito service that sprays our yard and grass with a product that kills ticks every 3 weeks. So no mosquitos, no ticks. But, my husband uses REPEL on golf course because he is a magnet for ticks. Oh, this is the weird part…. it’s wise to wear light colored clothes (easier to see them) and remove your clothes in the garage, put them in a muslin laundry bag and throw them in the dryer on high for 30 minutes (if you’ve been in high risk tick areas). This kills any that might be on your clothes, unnoticed, so you don’t bring them into the house. Washing first does not help, as they can survive and crawl back up the drain. Heat desicates them, very effective!! And, it does not shrink your clothes, as they are not wet? Then wash as usual and dry. I learned this after finding one in our laundry basket!! Evil little creatures…. And check your entire self every day by feel. Your hands can feel what your eyes can’t see!!! If you find an engorged tick, grip tightly with a fine point tweezer and pull it straight out. Do not twist or apply anything to the tick (that increases the chance of infection as they regurgitate into the wound when stressed). Cleans the bite site and your hands after you save it in a zip lock baggy (no alcohol or anything in the bag,) date the bag. If you are in the US you can send the tick to be tested with results in 48 hrs at www.tickcheck.com so if it’s carrying something, you can be treated right away. It is so important to get treatment early before it disseminates and goes dormant, only to emerge in 3-5 years (when you won’t even remember being bitten so won’t relate your symptoms) and be much harder to treat. Lyme is the same type of bacterium as syphilis. They are spirochetes. So, symptoms follow similar paths if long term. Very dangerous, and ticks carry about 20 other diseases, virus and parasites that can infect you as well. They also carry an enzyme (alpha gal) that makes humans allergic to all mammalian meat. So that leaves you able to eat chicken, fish and tofu!!. It’s happened to 3 of my neighbors!?


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## southernbelle (Jun 6, 2022)

BrucherT said:


> Get Irish Spring soap. Quarter it. Drill holes through, run a string, hang every 3 to 4 feet from deer-attracting shrubs. Cheese-grate one bar and sprinkle it around tender stuff. Reapply every 2 weeks. Also, they hate Milorganite.


Irish Spring works for a while but they get used to it. Milirganite works, well but it stunk up our yard so badly we couldn’t sit outside for a week.  I’ve even tried Coyote Urine (I kid you not!). Coyotes are predators and deer know it. Really nasty to work with and nasty smelling. Worked if I did it. As far as the powdered/granular types Deer Scram is the best and works reasonably well, but eventually they get used to anything smell deterrent. My other post here goes into other things. By the way, it’s much easier to keep them at bay if they’ve never tasted the goodies in your yard. Once they’ve tasted they try a lot harder and tolerate a lot more before giving up.


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## Ray (Jun 6, 2022)

When I was in school, a friend of mine’s wife worked at 6 Flags Over Georgia. She brought home waste from the tiger enclosure and spread it around the perimeter of their garden.

NOTHING bothered their veggies.


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## southernbelle (Jun 6, 2022)

Ray said:


> When I was in school, a friend of mine’s wife worked at 6 Flags Over Georgia. She brought home waste from the tiger enclosure and spread it around the perimeter of their garden.
> 
> NOTHING bothered their veggies.


I love this!! Tiger poop for all! If only it was regularly available, it would fertilize too!!


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## abax (Jun 6, 2022)

Thank you SB for the advice concerning ticks. Here in SE KY, we have a very bad infestation of ticks. My nephew has had Lyme for over two years and is still testing
positive. This is a believe it or not: try mixing essential oils peppermint, Eucalyptus
and lemon grass with water in a spray bottle and spray yourself on your legs and
arms. Actually doesn't smell too bad and it works.


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## southernbelle (Jun 7, 2022)

Angela, I’m sad about you and your nephew. The best doc in the US is in DC. Interesting that he still tests positive, many people never test positive. I assume you mean on a Western Blot test. The tests that look for antibodies are not reliable (immune systems don’t always react normally by producing antibodies, especially if you’ve taken antibiotics after infection as the bacteria go dormant and hide in deep tissue evading the immune system) and many Lyme literate docs don’t even use them. In VA a law was passed that docs who tested patients had to give the patients a letter stating that a negative did not mean you didn’t have Lyme. Also. many docs don’t test for any of the co-infections. So symptoms can be very weird and things are never found and treated. Anyway I would follow up with an expert, as it can affect you both for the rest of your lives if not treated long enough snd completely. The best docs are associated with the Int’l. Lyme & Assoc. Diseases Society ILADS. Their website might list some docs in KY. Or call them and ask. It also has excellent accurate info. If I can help at all let me know.


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## Ray (Jun 7, 2022)

We lived a few years in southern NJ and for decades in Bucks County, PA. My wife, my kids, our dogs and I all had Lyme disease. The trick is catching it early.

When this COVID thing hit and hand sanitizer was unavailable, I made my own with 99% EtOH, aloe gel and a tad of essential oil of lavender. It works quite well as an insect repellent, too.


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## Tom-DE (Jun 8, 2022)

Thank you, SB. for the first-hand info on the products you've used. I will give BOBBEX a try if I need it.
I bought *Repels-All* and gave it a try. The deers didn't bother plants(for the last two days) in the area where I had treated but they ate others in another area that I hadn't treated, so the deers have not stayed away from my yard yet...
@ticks/Lyme, Lyme disease is no joke...so use repellant and check your body for ticks after you walk in the woods/after yard work. After two of my friends got the disease and I witnessed how the disease progressed if not diagnosed and get treated early, I took the Lyme disease vaccine almost 20 years ago (the vaccine required 3 shots, but I only took 2 shots...I regret I didn't finish the third shot). Now, the vaccine is no longer available--I was told they stopped making them because the demand for the vaccine wasn't good.


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