Yet Another Deer Attack! Thoughts on Protective Cages.
Deer must really like peppers!? I went outside the other day and discovered that the deer had eaten off the tops of the pepper plants in one of my raised beds. I had a 2-foot-tall chicken wire protective cage around the pepper plants, plus the raised bed is already 16 inches high, but some of the plants had grown over the chicken wire cage. The deer ate everything sticking above the fencing.
Although I am somewhat disappointed, all the peppers were below that level. So, I don't think I actually lost any peppers already growing. Will the lopped off tops slow down the production of the plants? Maybe. I don't know.
In any case, I have been living with my pallet wood chicken wire protective cages this year and seeing what kind of design works best for me. It's amazing how something you thought would be so good actually does not work out so well in practice!
Case in point, this past year I made a number of pallet wood protective cages that were 2-, 3-, and 4- feet tall. Some had wire tops on them, some not. I set those cages on top of my raised beds. The idea was to keep out the rabbits when the plants are young and be tall enough to keep out the deer later in the summer/fall when food is ready to harvest.
Here is what I think I have learned this summer. The 4-foot-tall cages were too tall to reach into and work the garden beds. Also, they are too bulky and heavy for a one-person lift. Most of the time, I work alone in the garden. So, no more 4-foot-tall protective cages.
View attachment 4202802
Next, I had some 3-foot-tall protective cages, some with chicken wire tops, some open. The 3-foot-tall cages were better overall. I can lift them off by myself without much problem. I can still reach into the garden beds and pull weeds or do other maintenance without having to remove the cage if the top is open.
I had one 3-foot-tall protective cage with chicken wire on top and put that on a raised bed with eggplants. If we don't completely enclose our eggplants, the squirrels will eat them. So, the top on the protective cage worked OK for that bed. But I quickly discovered that having wire tops on the cages meant I would not be getting into the bed as much as I might have wanted. So, mid-summer, I removed the cage, pulled all the weeds, and put down a heavy mulch on the soil. That has kept the weed growth down in that bed and good enough that I have not needed to do any more maintenance.
The eggplants are about ready to harvest, and I only had to work with that 3-foot-tall protective cage once this summer. I consider that a success because in prior years, without a completely enclosed cage, we lost almost all our eggplants to the squirrels.
In general, I prefer the cages without tops which are good enough to keep out the rabbits, but I can still reach inside and work the bed.
Having said all that, I find the 2-foot-tall open top cages have worked the best for me. They keep the rabbits out and I can easily reach inside the cage and work the bed.
View attachment 4202804
However, the 2-foot-tall cages are not tall enough to keep the deer out later in the summer when the plants grow taller than the chicken wire. My new idea is to stack two 2-foot-tall protective cages one on top the other, as needed, to keep out the deer. Gravity should be good enough to keep the top cage on the bottom cage, but if not, I can tie them together. With two 2-foot-tall pallet wood protective cages and the raised bed at 16 inches to start with, I have almost 5-1/2-feet of protection from the deer. I don't think the deer will be trying to reach up and over 5-1/2-feet!
I have no problem handling the 2-foot-tall cages by myself. I can easily take off the top cage and leave the bottom one in place as I work the garden. Going forward, I think everything will be based on the 2-foot-tall design, stacking one on top of the other if needed.
Getting back to my pepper bed that the deer ate off the tops of the plants, I had an old 4X4 chicken wire cage with a wire top that I used out in my old garden to protect my beans from the deer. It's not much to look at, but it fit on top of 4X4 cage I was using for the pepper bed.
View attachment 4202810
I'll make another pallet wood frame for the top and cut some vertical supports to make it a proper, solid cage like the ones I am building now. But that can wait until after harvesting that bed. For now, it is protecting the pepper plants, and they are growing taller with the new top cage protecting them. Where I live, my peppers don't grow much over 3 feet tall in our short growing season. So, two 2-foot-tall cages should be more than enough protection going forward.
It's been raining here almost every day the past week, so I have not been doing much outside. The pictures in this post were taken last year. But that is what I am still working with.
My current plan is to cut my 4-foot-tall protective cage and remake it into two 2-foot-tall cages. That size just works better for me, and if the stacking idea works, I think it will be much more useful for me. Most of my protective cages do not need wire tops, however, I will have a couple cages with tops if I have to protect the plants, like the eggplants, from those darn squirrels.
If/when I get the new pallet wood protective cages built, I'll post some new pictures of the project. Although I have had mixed results with the cages this year, I have successfully protected almost all the plants from hungry pests. Now I just need to dial in the size that works best for me to work the beds and yet still protect the plants as needed. I'm thinking the 2-foot-tall option, stacked if needed, is my best option.
I thought that was a real black bear in your garden at first! I live on a lake, and we do have black bears that pass through the property every once in a while. We have to keep our garbage cans inside the garage with the doors closed. Also, nobody has bird feeders out in the yard because it will attract bears. It's better for people and wild bears to keep to themselves!
New Band Saw Purchase!
