Last year we spent a lot of time expanding our garden and knew deer would be a problem. We wanted a cheap garden fencing option and saw people getting good results using fishing line. It didn’t keep the deer out. Once we realized it wasn’t working, we reconfigured and tried the next cheapest fence option: The 3D Deer Fence. It’s worked perfectly even with our bold, hungry, Michigan deer.
What You Need
5ft or 6ft T-Posts – For the corners and sides. If your sides are less than 10 or 15 feet, corner posts and gate posts should be all you need. If the sides are longer, you probably want a T-post every 15 feet or so. NOTE: You may want 6-footers if the part you drive into the ground is more than 12 inches. Buy on Amazon, Tractor Supply, Rural King, etc.
4ft Poly Step-In Posts – For the outer perimeter. Buy on Amazon (link is for a box of 50 – you probably won’t need that many! Buy only what you need)
Polywire – This is the electric fence strand. Buy on Amazon – 656 feet, or 1312 Feet. You’ll need 2 times the outer perimeter length, plus the perimeter of the outer band. The shorter size would come really close to covering a 50×50 garden as an example.
Electric Fence Charger – We use a solar electric fence charger because it’s out in the middle of a field. What we have is overkill for a garden, but the price was reasonable. View Chargers On Amazon. Note: I’m not convinced the electric charge is the deterrent so much as the appearance of the fence. But I’m also not going to experiment with the electricity turned off…
Grounding Rod – If you choose to electrify your garden deer fence, you’ll need a grounding rod to complete the circuit and deliver the shock when the fence is touched. Buy on Amazon.
Insulators – For the ‘gate’ connection you’ll want a few electric fence handles and you’ll need a bag or two of the T-Post insulators. You may want an insulating hook to attach the handle.
Short Copper Wire – I used the black wire from some extra home electrical copper wire I had. You only need enough to go from the terminal down to the grounding rod, (6 feet or less) so by the foot at your local hardware store may be the best bet. Or, buy on Amazon.
Put it Together
- Install the T-Posts at your corners and sides (if needed)
- Install the insulators at 2 feet and 4 feet on the metal T-Posts, run the polywire along these.
- Install the step-in posts 3 feet away from the inner perimeter, run the polywire at the 2 feet rung around the garden.
- Pound the grounding rod into the ground and leave several inches and the attachment terminal where you can work with it.
- Run the copper wire from the Electric Fence Charger to the grounding rod.
- Run polywire from the positive electric fence charger terminal to each of the 3 lines.
- Run short gate polywire lines across your entrance for each of the three lines and use the handle/hook to attach.
- Turn on/charge fence charger
- Test with multimeter or brave soul willing to get shocked.
This fence works when the fishing line deer fence did not. Best of luck and happy gardening!
Does this work for raccoons too? I have so much trouble with both deer and raccoons.
Hi Sharon – this setup probably would not work for raccoons as it’s too high. They would just walk underneath it. We have no shortage of raccoons here (caught one on the camera last night) but they generally stay away from the garden. If we had more of a problem with critters of that size, I would try running a line at 6 or 8 inches off the ground. It would give them a shock if they tried to go under/over. But, you’d have to make sure the grass or other vegetation wasn’t touching the electric line so there may… Read more »
What about bears? The deer are after the leaves, the bears are going to want the fruit. Would it give the bears enough of a shock?
Luckily, we do not have to deal with bears in our area of Michigan. While it may give them a slight shock, I would not expect this setup to be able to deter a determined bear.
This definitely works for deer. Used one just like this to keep them out of our orchard for over 2 years. I recently removed it because I want to install something nicer looking that’s easier to cut around and can be used for chickens. The first week I removed it, the deer were back in the orchard damaging trees. So, proof it works. Just wish it wasn’t so ugly and hard to keep trimmed.