Henry Schek

Thanks for all of the info and experience.

It looks like the town permitting process might favor the less attractive, 8ft deer fence. The odyssey of doing this in town is going to be the bigger challenge than actually stopping the deer.

wayne fajkus wrote:Henry, i am in a similar situation and feel i made a very creative solution for the problem. My fence will be an arbor. Think of an old clothesline pole. The fencing will be 4ft tall and at a little over 6ft, there will be a 4 to 5ft wide "tee". Wire will be strung along the tees. Grapes, kiwi, or nothing will be grown on the arbors. It should be beautiful when the plants mature.

I have started on it. Most of the fence is done. I just need to install the tee portion of it.

I am after the same thing: maximally productive and nicer to look at than a bunch of plastic.

I am embarking on a project at our new home after leaving behind a maturing permacutlure set up in Vermont. Our new site is urban and is plagued by deer, a problem we didn't have in Vermont.

We are going to fence a little over half an acre (500-600 linear feet of fence) that will hold orchard, garden and small fruit etc. We are settled on a double fence, likely non-electric. This is partially because 8ft deer fences will look unsightly in the urban setting but more because we see a lot of ways to function-stack using the gap and the fence as trellises for certain types of plants. The inner fence might become the main trellising for grapes and in some areas blueberries will be in the gap and the fence will be part of the structure for holding bird netting over the berry plants.

I have read a lot of folks experiences with different materials and approaches on this site, but it is spread out over many threads and I have lost track of some good nuggets. I am hoping folks will be willing to link old content to this thread and add new, especially photos of double deer fences that have been successful.

I am especially interested in wire mesh materials for the outer fence and approaches that minimized the inner fence with visible cord, trellis or hot wire that could act as a trellis. I am also interested in homespun approaches to tensioning wire mesh and making a fence system that is easier to maintain.

I am enjoying the site a lot and look forward to posting on our experiences at our new site.