Deers are beautiful, majestic, stunning creatures…when viewed from a safe distance in the wild. If you spot a deer wandering through your yard or back garden, you might get an entirely different impression. Particularly, if they are chomping down on your prized tulips, defecating over your lawn or scaring the life out of your pet. While we here at DeerBusters believe that a deer fence is the best option for keeping these pests, we’ve scoured the internet for some of the best DIY solutions to deter the deer. Keep reading to find out how!

Garlic, Pepper, Milk And Eggs

First, you could consider using a repellent that consists of:

• 1 gallon of Warm water
• Eggs
• Milk
• Crushed garlic cloves
• Pepper

To use this solution, you need to add 3 eggs, 3 tablespoons of pepper, 3 crushed garlic cloves and 3 tablespoons of milk into a blender with three cups of water. Puree it until it is a pure liquid. You then need to strain that mixture into a jug before adding the rest of the water and sealing it.

You can use this homemade repellent as soon as it’s ready. However, it will be more potent and thus more effective if you leave it for 24 hours. You can then add it to a spray bottle and spray it liberally over your garden. This won’t harm your foliage or the deer. It will simply make it taste bad and thus help ensure that the animal doesn’t visit your garden again.

Red Hot Chili Pepper Spray

For this deterrent, courtesy of Ron Smith you will need:

• Habanero peppers
• Water
• Olive oil
• Milk

First, blend 4 peppers in enough water that they liquefy. Do be aware that these peppers are hot and as such they need to be handled with care. You should then strain the mixture through a coffee filter. This helps to prevent any solids from clogging up your spray bottle. You can then mix in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 3 tablespoons of milk. Most homemade repellents use milk to ensure that the repellent sticks to surfaces. You should then add enough water to get a 1:10 concentration.

To gain the best results, you should use this deterrent around March and spray it over anywhere that a deer might feed. This will help ensure that your garden doesn’t appeal to deers from the start of their feeding pattern.

Human Hair Deterrent

A more unique DIY deer deterrent includes using human hair. This works well because a deer will naturally avoid any location that smells like humans. As such, you can create a DIY deer deterrent by using a yard of old sheeting or cotton with a ¼ cup of bloodmeal and 1 cup of hair clippings. These can be used as little small satchels that can be placed around different areas of your yard including on trees and in shrubs.

Essential Oil Spray

Or you could create a spray using essential oils. For this one, you will need:

• 1 cup of sour cream
• 2 eggs
• ¼ teaspoon of dish soap
• 20 drops of clove oil
• 1 gallon of water

This is a thick mixture. As such, you’ll need to make sure that you are shaking it well before you add the water to get the right effect here. To create it, add the sour cream, dish soap, clove oil, and eggs into a jug. Pour water in until the jug is filled and then give it a good shake. This will mix all the ingredients. Once you have done this, you can add it to a spray bottle. It’s immediately ready to spray around your home including on your plants. The deterrent will last for several weeks and the best part is that it’s only going to get stronger as it continues to sit.

We hope this helps you see that there are a variety of homemade DIY deer repellent solutions that you can explore if you need to keep deer off your property. In doing so, you can avoid some of the common issues deer can cause around your home. If these options don’t work, it may be time to invest with a fence from DeerBusters. We offer affordable deer fencing options to protect your garden and yard.