The Laundry Staple That'll Keep Deer Out Of Your Garden

We all love Bambi, but when she and her mother start taking bites out of all your lettuce heads or munching the blooms off your roses, it might be time for some deer deterrent. Deer are beautiful creatures, but they love practically anything edible you can grow in your garden, plus grass and flowers, too. But there is one laundry staple that may help keep these gentle giants at bay: a bar of soap. It sounds far-fetched, right?

Bonnie Plants explains that one full-grown deer eats six to 10 pounds of food every day. Luckily, they aren't the smoothest criminals out there. Deer browsing in your garden will leave rough, torn edges on partially-eaten leaves. This is due to their lack of upper front teeth. They might trample other plants, and they leave easily identifiable hoof prints. Lastly, their droppings look like a pile of large olives. Deer typically eat throughout the night, or at dawn and dusk, when there is the least chance of human interaction. But if you recognize any of the signs of deer activity in your garden, it may be time to add soap to your arsenal.

The method of using bar soap, often successful with Irish Spring original scent, has been around for years. A 1991 University of Nebraska study confirmed that soap containing high levels of tallow is particularly effective at repelling deer. Interestingly, DIY milk spray is also effective at keeping deer at bay, but the soap method is too easy not to try.

The first way to use soap involves cutting the bar into cubes and hanging the cubes just above the plants that you suspect the deer are eating. It's also recommended to put the cubes in the ground around new plants while growing seedlings.

Yet another interesting method offers the option to grate the soap with a cheese grater instead. This is to use right out of the gate, when you first plant your seeds. Start with grating up a bar of soap, and sprinkle it all around the seeds you plant. Spread it around the soil of the land, even before the plants peek their heads from beneath it. 

Another method of using soap to deter the path of deer from your garden involves putting the bars in mesh bags, like the ones you get for holding things in the shower. These bags have holes, so you just put a bar into a mesh bag and hang it at about deer-head level around the plants you're trying to protect. The Homespun Hydrangea explains one bar should cover an area of around 10 by 10 feet.

Pest Pointers advises cutting your soap into about ½ inch pieces. Then you fill a cheesecloth bag (like the kind coffee beans come in) up to about two or three inches high with the soap. Then hang from a tree or a shepherd's hook where you want to keep deer away. If you're using multiple bags, place them at least within three feet of each other to ensure maximum efficacy. Note that you may have to restore your bags as time goes on if the weather causes them any damage. 

As it's the tallow content rather than the scent that deters the deer, it doesn't have to be Irish Spring. They now sell soap made completely of tallow if you choose to go with something different, such as the Pure Tallow Soap from Paleo Skincare. Otherwise, a tallow-based soap, such as Irish Spring, will work fine.