How to Keep Deer From Eating Tulips

Use a deer repellent at least once a week in your bulb garden. Commercial deer repellents are made to take advantage of the deer's excellent sense of smell, and they are typically an alarm scent of dead animals. Deer are extremely sensitive to this kind of scent and will stay away from it.

Deer repellents come in powder or granulated forms. Some may be concentrated liquid you can dilute and apply with a sprayer.

Know the habits of the deer in your neighborhood. Use a motion sensor to activate a light or radio. Or if you know that deer pass through every morning at dawn, set a timer to turn them on at about that time.

Sprinkle hot pepper flakes on your tulips. Make a hot pepper spray by boiling habaneros or other hot peppers in water until they are soft, then strain the spicy liquid off. Let it cool, and apply the liquid to your tulips with a sprayer. Add some prepared hot sauce to the water for an extra kick.

Buy or make wire cages in which to plant your tulip bulbs. These will protect them from small burrowing rodents as well as deer.

Construct a large cage for several bulbs by making a wire box from hardware cloth. Use a fine mesh for the sides and bottom, and a larger mesh like chicken wire for the top so the tulip foliage can easily grow through.

Make small cages for individual bulbs by folding two long rectangles into U shapes, then crossing them one inside the other to make a four-sided box with a double bottom. Use a larger mesh top so the foliage can grow through.

Keep a birdbath or other water source filled with clean water. Some animals eat tulips because the petals are so full of moisture, and it is one way the animal can rehydrate. Place your water source in an area away from the tulips so it doesn’t attract more hungry animals.