How to Keep Deer From Eating the Ginseng

Last summer was something of a disappointment. I felt I had a small number of roots that would be large enough to harvest. Early in the growing season deer came into the ginseng patch and ate the tops of literally every large plant I had. They had beaten down a path through the woods that looked like a highway. They selected the ginseng and left everything else untouched. All I can say is the local neighborhood of deer must be the healthiest and well balanced deer in the state. They ought to be after all the ginseng they ate.

Doug Cygan, the fellow from the New Hampshire Dept. of Agriculture, who is responsible for licensing ginseng growers in the state, recommended a thin woven plastic barrier fence. He said another nursery grower in NH had used it effectively against deer. Apparently it you can find material thin enough, the deer will have difficulty seeing it. They will nudge up against it and will follow the path of least resistance around the fenced in area. If they couldn't see the fence, they wouldn't try to jump over it, a trick at which they are quite adept with metal fences.

My concern was the cost of such a fence. I continued to ask the resident experts, and my neighbor, Fred Ingerson told me about a trick he knew of, using fishing line. Two strands, one down low and one about nose-high to a deer would keep them out, he claimed. For the price of a few spools of 15 pound test, it seemed worth a try. I put in three strands and may put in another if I feel it is helpful. I simply ran it from tree to tree giving one or two wraps around each tree to help hold the string at the right height. I was concerned that human visitors who occasionally walk through my woods would get tangled so I put orange plastic flagging tape on one of the strands. This is wnat it looks like.




One thing a fishing line fence will not stop is the creature who left this present -- a moose. Not much will stop a moose. Local dairy farmers complain about the wire fence lines that moose take down on a regular basis. Hopefully not too many moose will decide to walk through the ginseng forest. Later in the summer, the fishing line fence's effectiveness against deer (or lack thereof) will become apparent. After starting in 1993, maybe I will actually have some ginseng to sell this summer.

Update June 12, 2006
After a couple weeks, the fishing line had sagged in many spots from stretching. I make it a practice to walk the perimeter and take up the slack where I find it. So far I have seen evidence (tracks and scat) of deer outside the fence but not inside the fence. The ginseng has been growing nicely. There was one very localized area where a few plants had been eaten. Typically it looks like some creature chops off the the tops, leaving about 8 inches of stem sticking out of the ground. This is not widespread damage like it was last year. It occurred right after the plants came up, but now seems to have stopped. Maybe I'm dealing with a woodchuck, not a deer. --tw

tags: ginseng  deer fence  deer