Are Lemon Trees Deer Resistant?

Deer-proofing the garden is a priority for most fruit gardeners, and if you’re considering growing lemon trees, you’re probably wondering- are lemon trees deer resistant?

Well, here’s answering just that and more. Read on to get a quick overview about how to deer-proof your lemon trees.

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Are Lemon Trees Deer Resistant?
How to Deer-Proof your Lemon Trees

Are Lemon Trees Deer Resistant?

Simply put, they are not. While deer might not always eat the fruit, they do nibble at tender shoots, which can keep new fruit from growing, and lead to compromised harvest, putting all your efforts down the drain.

Sometimes, even if the deer don’t actually eat your lemon or parts of your lemon trees, their antlers may hit the stem and other parts, causing damage.

How to Deer-Proof your Lemon Trees

The simplest way to deer-proof your lemon trees and almost any other fruit trees is to fence your garden. This can be quite an investment, but they’ll be really helpful in the long run, especially if you are really serious about growing more fruit trees.

Apart from fencing, there are a few other steps you can take to deer-proof the lemon trees. Let’s take a closer look at each of them.

Opt For Miniature Lemon Trees

Potted lemon trees are great, because that gives you the chance to bring the container inside at night time, and easily protect it against deer damage. The dwarf meyer lemon tree in particular is great, is less acidic and has a slightly sweeter taste too.

Use a Natural Repellent

Applying a natural deer repellent to your lemon trees and the neighboring plants can be a good idea. Remember to use these repellents at the first sign of damage to your lemon tree.

Most of these repellents contain bone tar oil, tankage, blood meal, human hair and ammonium individually or as a combination. If you’re concerned about how harmful these commercially available repellents can be, you can also make it yourself.

Install an Electric Fence

Installing an electric fence is another excellent way to protect your lemon trees from deer. This can be a lot cheaper than installing a surrounding fence, but they can require a bit more maintenance.

Having an electric fence surrounding your garden will ensure behavior modification in the deer, and eventually ward them away.

Choose the Right Varieties

You might come across some gorgeous aesthetically pleasing hybrid varieties of the lemon tree, but if you find deer often making an entrance in your garden, it is best to skip these and just stick to the ‘true’ lemon trees.

If you’re wondering why, it is simply because true lemon trees actually have thorns, which offer natural protection against animals like deer, while the hybrid varieties don’t.

This is why, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that true lemon trees are deer resistant to some extent.

Other Techniques

Apart from these, there are a few other steps you can take to guard your lemon trees against deer.

Deer usually shy away from things that carry human scent, so you can create a natural repellent by tying your used soap bars to the branches of your tree.
To protect the trunk and stems of your young lemon tree, you can use PVC piping. Just make sure you leave a little room on all the sides for the tree to grow freely as it wants to.
You can also choose to apply a relatively milder barrier like netting to prevent significant damage to your landscape.
Use a mixture of powerful ingredients that create an uncomfortable sensory response to keep the deer away from your plants. For example, a mixture of neem oil and hot sauce can be highly effective when used as a natural deterrent.

Another plus is the fact that neem oil is actually effective against ants and other pests too. Check out more about that right here.