I am sure the title of this post got your attention! It is true…. we created our own ‘poop bags’ to keep the deer away from our fruit trees organically. Curious WHY we swear by making poop bags and hanging them from trees? In today’s share ready how poop bags are an organic way to keep deer out of the garden.
WHY POOP BAGS?
We have been having issues with the deer eating our fruit tree buds and destroying the young maple trees in the meadow. The deer love rubbing their antlers on the new growth and basically eating the small tree trunks. A friend in our area told us about these baggies they make up to keep the deer out of their large fruit orchard so we decided to come up with our own ‘poop bags’. These baggies are made out of Milorganite Organic Fertilizer. One of the ingredients in this product is human poop. GROSS… I KNOW! But it is completely safe and sold at local garden centers. The apple orchard owner swears it keeps the deer away therefore we took his word and gave it a try. After 1 season we were hooked…. it really worked!
How to Make Poop Bags
Materials Needed:
- at least 1 yard of cotton fabric
- twine
- scissors
- bag of Milorganite Fertilizer
Directions:
- Cut the cotton into 12″x 12″ squares using pinking shears. Pinking shears will keep the fabric from fraying.
- Cut twine into 12″ pieces.
- Be sure to cut all the squares of cotton and have the twine peices cut before opening the fertilizer.
- Carefully scoop about 1/2 cup of the fertilizer into the middle of the cotton square piece.
- tie up center making a little pouch with twine leaving plenty of twine to hang bag from tree.
Photo How-To
Poop Bag Results
The Milorganite which is an organic fertilizer has very little scent which is something I like about the product. I guess I was expecting something really strong and unpleasant considering the ingredients. The consistency of the product was grainy like sand and super easy to work with. Making the Poop Bags was my first experiment with organic fertilizers in the garden and it was a great experience. In fact, over the years with making many more of these poop bags using Milorganite and cotton fabric.
Happy Garden
Over the years after making my own poop bags and seeing the results I’ve used the organic fertilizer in the landscape around other plants I know the deer will enjoy with excellent results. I not only have healthy happy trees and plants but they are critter-free with organic products.
Let’s Connect
Share below your thoughts on keeping deer and other critters out of the garden.
**Post edited April 9, 2017
9 Responses
This is fascinating and gross rolled into one. Hahahaha, thank goodness we don’t have a deer problem.
I’ve used Milorganite just as organic fertilizer before. I remember it being pretty good stuff and didn’t smell when it was dry, but when it rained and got it wet……….Whoo! Hadn’t thought about it keeping the deer away Wonder if blood meal would work as well? We use it on the ground around hostas. A while back we bought these little deer repellent things that were full of blood mean. Don’t know if they worked, because the raccoons stole them.
The Milogranite was on sale and is available in our area. The Apple Orchard swears by this stuff and I know ‘my deer’ visit their property as well. They say it works – I trust them because they make a living off of those trees! Thanks for the information about blood meal. I am not familiar with that product and will have to look into it after you commented here. Thanks for stopping by Sandy!
Bren, couldn’t find the milorganite.. do you know anything about “HUMATES”? the stuff i found at Meijer has that in it.. i was hoping since it sounded like “humans”… ;>
lol… I don’t know about ‘humates’ ! The Milorganite is also carried at Walmart in a bigger bag for cheap. Will look into the one you mentioned and get back with you.
Oooh, you’re such an inspiration. I love this blog!
Just saw this post and really need to make these. The deer are working hard on some of our new trees.
Thanks for the great info!
Awesome one, thank you for the tip!
Wow! Who would have thought that Milorganite was good to ward off the deer! Here’s another great use for it. If you happen to have a Philodendron Selloum, you can apply it fairly liberally to the base of it without being concerned over exposed roots. Water it in well. After a few days, maybe sooner, you’ll see it beginning to break down. In no time at all, you’ll see the leaves a deep, deep, rich green. Those guys are crazy for it 🙂