The Bathroom Essential That Will Save Your Garden From Hungry Deer

Catching a glimpse of deer outside can be a wonderful sight to behold — that is, until you spot them eating plants from your garden. The common white-tailed deer is particularly ubiquitous throughout the U.S., and you can find it around farms, woodlands, wetlands, and even deserts. As a general rule, once deer have located a source of food, they are likely to keep coming back. This can be challenging if you have plants that deer are particularly fond of, but there are steps you can take to help discourage these animals from coming into your garden. In addition to other deterrents, you might consider hanging a bar of fragrant soap as one of the natural ingredients that can repel deer from your yard and garden.

Bar soap as a deer repellent can sound far-fetched, or even an "old wives' tale." The purported key to this method is to use a strong-smelling soap, such as Irish Spring. If you've ever used Irish Spring, you know it has a potent citrus-herbal scent. It turns out that the fragrance is the key factor that deer do not care for. Deer are known to have an extremely sensitive sense of smell, which is about 1,000 times greater than that of humans. As such, deer are said to avoid areas that have strong scents, including those that are citrus or mint-based. While no deer repellent is guaranteed to work 100% of the time, Irish Spring may be worth trying due to its possible efficacy and affordability, as well as its non-toxicity.

The technique of bar soap as a deer repellent involves hanging bars of these fragrant products from branches of trees. You can strategically place them near plants you are trying to keep deer from eating. In theory, a deer might dislike the smell enough and avoid the area completely. For best results, drill a hole directly through the bar of soap and hang it off the end of a branch with twine. Each bar of soap can protect about 1 square yard. As such, you may need multiple bars of soap for a larger area, or about one bar every 3 feet.

Also, know that it's possible that hanging bar soap might have the opposite effect, as some deer have reportedly eaten these soaps. One way you can maximize the possible efficacy of bar soap is to replace it at least once a month so that the fragrance maintains its potency. It's also important to not rely on using bar soap as your sole method of deer management, as the technique might not work in all cases. As such, you might consider hanging bars of Irish Spring soap or other strong-scented products in addition to other strategies, such as avoiding the worst deer fence materials and plants that deer like to eat. Another method is to plant deer-resistant plants that may save your garden instead, like marigolds or chives.