Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Repellex – a later version
Deer are beautiful animals until they mosey over to my landscape and start munching !
As gardeners we’ve used loud noises, Irish Spring soap, pepper spray and a variety of other so-called surefire ways to keep the deer at a distance without consistent results.
There’s also another critter that creates chaos for young trees in particular, it’s the lowly mouse and it’s cousin the vole. Mice like to nestle up to young trees and shrubs in winter and feed on a feast of bark and roots. I told you about using a white spiral tree guard last week. It works well and keeps fruit trees from winter damage. However, there’s another way!
University of Minnesota, Duluth’s, Natural Resources Research Institute introduced the repellent to the public in 2010. It works in a completely different way and doesn’t require altering the aesthetics of your landscape. Repellex works from INSIDE the plant.
It’s delivered to your plant through a pill that you insert at the root system. When watered with your plant, the pill delivers a concentrate of hot pepper called capsicum to the roots which take it up into the rest of your plant making it inedible for critters from deer to mice and in between.
I love this because it’s completely organic. There are no synthetic chemicals involved, it doesn’t alter the genetics of your plants and is completely safe. This pill can’t wash off like the sprays, therefore giving your plants much longer protection.
Eventually the capsicum will work it’s way out of your plant and your fruits won’t taste like pepper. The product was approved by the Environmental Protection Agency and has been available for several years. Q&A about Repellex
They’ve created a granular form as well and are also using it to repel other critters, including your own pets, without any side effects.
