BAMBI IS ADORABLE.

Bambi also eats like a vegetarian sumo wrestler, and he (yes, Bambi is a he; we checked with Disney) has his big brown eyes fixed firmly on your customers prized flowers, shrubs and trees. Short of resorting to the “ounce of lead” cure, is there anything that really works for keeping Bambi and friends from turning your customers’ yards into their own private salad bar? We went to the Northeast to find out. The deer are multiplying like rabbits there, with the population in parts of Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New York reaching 150 to 200 deer per square mile. Here are 14 field-tested tips in three categories —plant selection, repellents and fencing—from garden center specialists, as well as from Brad Roeller, a deer-repelling expert with the New York Botanical Garden.

Plant Selection

TIP | Plant what deer don’t like. Gardeners still ignore the advice because most garden centers’ lists of “deer-resistant plants” is woefully short. Vinnie Drzewucki of Hicks Nursery on Long Island, wrote the book on deer-resistant plants. It’s called “Gardening in Deer Country.” In it, he identifies more than 300 trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, vines and groundcovers—enough to satisfy any gardener’s taste.

TIP | “Identify what the characteristics are of the plants that are resistant, then look for other plants that share those same characteristics.” Another one from Vinnie. For instance, if there are native plants that deer don’t like, there may be cultivated relatives that will be deer resistant, as well: wild ranunculus and cultivated varieties of ranunculus, for instance. Other characteristics to look for: plants that are thorny or prickly; thick, leathery leaves; and plants with strong aromas, such as marigolds and geraniums and herbs.

TIP | Don’t plant taxus (yew); plant cephalotaxus (plum yew). This tip comes from Emil Masotto, a certified arborist with Marder’s, Bridgehamptom, Long Island. Emil says deer absolutely love taxus, but they’re not as attracted to the similar-looking cephalotaxus. “For whatever reason, the deer don’t seem to go for it.” (How bad is the deer population in eastern Long Island? Emil saw five in his yard the morning we called.)

TIP | Intersperse plants that deer like with plants they don’t like. Vinnie again. If there’s a specimen a customer simply must have in her garden, recommend she surround it with deer-resistant plants. Choose a fragrant plant, such as lilac.

Repellents

TIP | Ask Customers for their recommendations. When you see customers purchasing a commercial repellent, ask them about their experiences, and learn from them. For instance, Sharon Gledhill of Waterloo Gardens in Pennsylvania, says her customers most often come back for Liquid Fence. The products mentioned most often by our garden center experts were Deer Solution, Liquid Fence, Deer Stopper, Deer Off, Bobbex and Hinder. This doesn’t mean other products aren’t just as effective; it just reflects what seems to work in certain areas.

TIP | Plantskydd. Brad Roeller, of the New York Botanical Garden’s Institute of Ecosystem Studies, recommends this oddly named new product. Developed in Sweden and derived from porcine blood, Plantskydd is the longest-lasting organically based product Brad has tested (and he’s been testing repellents for 30 years). Last year he saw six months of control from one application. (www.plantskydd.com)

TIP | Milorganite at half rate. Several of our experts said this popular fertilizer also works as a deer repellent. Just spread it around your beds, and you get fertilizer and deer repellent in one. Brad Roeller agreed that it works, but he cautioned not to overdo it. Use half the labeled rate for turf, he says, with your first application early in the spring when bulbs and early perennials are emerging. Then apply it again four weeks later.

TIP | Fish Emulsion. Like Milorganite, fish emulsion is a fertilizer, the smell of which repels deer, so you get twice the bang for your buck, so to speak. Brad mentioned Coast of Maine fermented salmon emulsion—one unsolicited Internet recommendation from a gardener says, “It stinks, but it’s good!”

TIP | Don’t spray when it’s freezing out. As effective as spray repellents are, nearly all recommend that you don’t apply them when the temperature is below about 40F. Brad says if a product freezes on the plant, it can cause as much damage as a deer. Instead, use mechanical barriers in the winter, such as burlap or snow fencing.

TIP | Soak cotton balls or rags in repellent. One way to put foul-smelling repellents, such as coyote urine, around your yard is to soak cotton balls in them, put the cotton into nylon stockings, then hang them from your trees, bushes or fencing, says Mike Ruggiero of New York’s Matterhorn Nursery. Brad Roeller says you can soak rags in repellent and hang them around your property, too.

TIP | Human Hair. You may be hesitant to ask your barber for the sweepings from his shop, but human hair works, says Brad. Strew it around the plants, or tie it up in nylon stockings and hang the sachets from your trees.

Fencing

TIP | Use solid (non-see-through) stockade fencing rather than chain link or other open fencing. “[Deer] don’t jump over something they can’t see through,” says Mike Ruggiero. If customers don’t like the hard look of wood surrounding their yard, they can plant the inside with shrubs or vines.

TIP | Use two rows of fencing. Deer will step or jump over a single fence, even an electric one. But Brad says two strands, each about 28-in. off the ground and spaced 36-in. apart, will baffle them. “Deer don’t have the wherewithal to hop over one and then hop over the other,” he says. “They’re kind of intimidated by this wide barrier.”

TIP | Remember that, while deer aren’t smart, they aren’t stupid either. Mike Ruggiero recalls the story of the fed-up homeowner who surrounded his property, almost entirely, with electrical wire. Undaunted, the deer walked up the driveway. Use common sense and a variety of methods, and Bambi will find easier pickings in a neighbor’s yard.