The encroachment of development has increasingly brought deer into contact with backyard citrus groves, creating conflict for gardeners. Deer will consume citrus trees, but it is not a preferred food source. They typically consume citrus only when primary, more palatable options are unavailable. This behavior is driven by the deer’s need for easily digestible nutrients when environmental stressors limit their natural diet.
Understanding Deer Dietary Habits
Deer are classified as “concentrate selectors,” meaning they seek highly nutritious, low-fiber foods like tender new shoots, soft mast, and protein-rich forbs. They are browsers, preferring to nibble on leaves, buds, and twigs rather than large quantities of grass. This selective foraging strategy prioritizes the most digestible parts of plants to maximize nutrient intake.
Seasonal changes influence their diet, pushing them toward less favored options like citrus. During winter or drought, when preferred browse is scarce, deer consume plants they normally avoid. Citrus leaves contain strong aromatic oils that are naturally deterrent to deer. However, hunger overrides this aversion, making the bitter foliage a viable, energy-sustaining food source during stressful times.
Specific Citrus Plant Vulnerabilities
Deer most frequently target the soft, tender, light-green new growth, which is more palatable and easier to digest than mature leaves. A citrus tree’s growth flush, a period of rapid new leaf and shoot production, is often completely stripped by deer overnight. This continual removal of new foliage can severely stunt the growth of young trees and delay fruit production.
Mature citrus leaves and rind are more resistant due to concentrated essential oils. Deer will also consume fallen fruit or low-hanging fruit that is easy to access, especially in the fall when they are building fat reserves for winter. A different type of damage occurs when male deer, or bucks, rub their antlers against the trunk and lower branches of young trees. This rubbing removes velvet or marks territory, which can severely scar the bark and even kill the tree.
Effective Protection Strategies
The most reliable method for protecting citrus is through exclusion, which involves creating a physical barrier the deer cannot cross. A dedicated woven wire fence should be at least eight feet high, as deer can easily jump lower structures. For individual young trees, a metal wire mesh cylinder or cage secured with stakes that extends at least six feet high will prevent both browsing and antler rubbing damage.
Repellents offer a non-physical barrier, but they require consistent reapplication to remain effective. Commercial options often use active ingredients like putrefied egg solids, blood meal, or capsaicin, which deter deer through foul taste or smell. Because deer can acclimate to a single odor or flavor, rotating between scent-based and taste-based repellents every few weeks helps to maintain their effectiveness. Gardeners should also remove fallen citrus fruit promptly and prune lower branches to keep the canopy out of easy reach, limiting the simplest feeding opportunities for the animals.