En Garde Defense can help you stop damage to your landscaping and send deer back into their natural habitats
By Mitch Allen
Deer damage is nearing its peak because area does are now pregnant with their fawns. That may be good news for the deer, but bad news for your landscaping.
“When female deer are pregnant, they are extra hungry because they need to provide nutrition for themselves and the fawn(s) they are carrying,” explains Jeff Ardo, founder of En Garde Deer Defense. “And, unfortunately, the buds and new growth on our favorite landscaping plants are packed with nutrition. This encourages deer to feast on your all-you-can-eat buffet instead of foraging naturally in their true habitat—the woods.”
Deer love to eat many of the same plant species we find beauty in, Jeff adds. These include tulips, daylilies, hostas, hydrangeas, roses, and geraniums, as well as winter vulnerables such as arborvitae, rhododendrons, azaleas, yews, and euonymus.
Here’s How to Protect Your Property
If you’re experiencing deer damage, there’s a good chance you’ve tried various methods of defending your expensive landscaping. Scented sprays at big box stores? Check. Homemade concoctions found on the internet? Check. Screaming and chasing them out of your yard? Check.
Of course, few of them work and none works well.
But here’s something that does work:
Jeff’s En Garde Deer Defense company is a deer deterrent spray service that prevents deer damage to your floral landscaping. He started the local company in partnership with a wildlife biologist from New Jersey Deer Control who 25 years ago developed a proprietary spray formula that actually works.
En Garde’s formula cannot be found online or in stores. Due to the nature of its ingredients, it cannot be stored on a shelf. “We mix our spray fresh every morning,” Jeff says. “It’s effective, weather-resistant, transparent and virtually odorless to humans.”
But the spray’s unique formula is only one reason for the effectiveness of Jeff’s service. The other is proper application—and that requires training.
A Highly Trained Staff
Quick. Can you identify at least 87 different species of plants and state whether they are vulnerable to deer? En Garde’s spray technicians can. That’s because they undergo highly comprehensive training, including an online test in which each tech must accomplish that challenging task. New employees also undergo a six-plus-week, hands-on, in-the-field apprenticeship program with a trained technician before being allowed to work alone. Training also includes a final test to achieve certification.
“The test includes questions about plants, deer behavior, spraying techniques, and questions our clients may have,” Jeff says.
It’s Never Too Late to Get Started
Even if you’ve already experienced some deer damage this year, it’s not too late to start treatment.
“Many landscaping plants will continue to grow over the summer,” Jeff says. “And many others can recuperate even if already damaged. Plus, it doesn’t take long for deer to develop the habit of coming to your yard for the food source, so the sooner we can stop them, the sooner we will break them of that habit. Of course, the best time to use En Garde was last year, the second-best time is always right now.”
En Garde Deer Defense serves all of Northeast Ohio. To schedule your free trial, call 440-447-0022, or fill out a free trial form online at EGDeerDefense.com.