# Deer ate my Arborvitae, what now?



## Togo (Jun 7, 2017)

So as the title suggest, this winter deer came and ate the heck out of my arborvitae tree in the front of my house. I've tried researching about if I can recover the tree and get it to fill back in etc and from what I've read it really comes down to how bad the damage was. Anyone have any input based off these pictures? Course of action to get them to recover? Water, fertilize and hope for the best?


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## SCGrassMan (Dec 17, 2017)

Now eat the deer!


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## Togo (Jun 7, 2017)

SCGrassMan said:


> Now eat the deer!


 :lol:


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## Lawndress (Jul 9, 2020)

It won't recover. It will always look like this. Take it out!


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## SCGrassMan (Dec 17, 2017)

Lawndress said:


> It won't recover. It will always look like this. Take it out!


And use the sticks to skewer the deer meat and roast on a fire


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## Togo (Jun 7, 2017)

Well in the past I haven't been much for deer hunting, looks like that's gonna have to change.

I guess I'll try fertilizer and water and see what happens and just figure that when I do my front walkway in a year or two I'll likely be ripping it out and planting something new.


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## Lawndress (Jul 9, 2020)

SCGrassMan said:


> Lawndress said:
> 
> 
> > It won't recover. It will always look like this. Take it out!
> ...


I keep inviting bow hunters onto my property, but none have taken me up on it yet.


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## Deadlawn (Sep 8, 2020)

Whatever you do, if you don't protect it somehow, the deer will come back. Deer repellent may or may not work depending on how hungry the deer are. Predator urine dispensers might work.

The only options are either a 10 ft fence or plant deer resistant plants. I believe junipers are more deer resistant. Many juniper cultivars would fit into the landscape.


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## Lawndress (Jul 9, 2020)

Deadlawn said:


> Whatever you do, if you don't protect it somehow, the deer will come back. Deer repellent may or may not work depending on how hungry the deer are. Predator urine dispensers might work.
> 
> The only options are either a 10 ft fence or plant deer resistant plants. I believe junipers are more deer resistant. Many juniper cultivars would fit into the landscape.


Correct. Deer hate juniper. (I get entire herds in my yard.)


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## Togo (Jun 7, 2017)

It's not really in a position where I can blocked it off from the deer so I'll see if it fills in at all this year a little or if it's toast, at which point I'll take it out and replace when I redo my front walkway with something deer resistant. The shocking thing is, this is the first tome they've ever eaten it in 5 years.


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## Deadlawn (Sep 8, 2020)

Togo said:


> It's not really in a position where I can blocked it off from the deer so I'll see if it fills in at all this year a little or if it's toast, at which point I'll take it out and replace when I redo my front walkway with something deer resistant. The shocking thing is, this is the first tome they've ever eaten it in 5 years.


I doubt that it's toast as it's high enough that deer can't reach most of the crown. It won't look great, but maybe there is an evergreen shrub the height of those others around it you can put in front of it to shield it from further deer browse and hide the browsed part.


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## Lawndress (Jul 9, 2020)

Togo said:


> It's not really in a position where I can blocked it off from the deer so I'll see if it fills in at all this year a little or if it's toast, at which point I'll take it out and replace when I redo my front walkway with something deer resistant. The shocking thing is, this is the first tome they've ever eaten it in 5 years.


They're sneaky like that.


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## 7824 (Oct 23, 2019)

Too much green in that corner. It wasn't a good spot for that tree. Take it out and replace it with one of the many types of upright columnar blue junipers.


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