Before I bought my house I thought cats went in a litterbox. Well some do, but my yard is apparently more appealing to Leo, my neighbor's cat, who is old and incontinent.
If you are reading this you know that none of the sprays, repellants, etc do anything at all and should be removed from the market. But dog-gonnit, the Scarecrow works.
There are a few minor things you should know, however. First, if you care about the Scarecrow leaking, be sure to assemble the unit with Teflon tape. Second, the Scarecrow is entirely plastic, right down to the spike that you drive into the ground. Not a big deal perhaps, but if your ground is hard you won't be hammering the Scarecrow into the dirt. Finally, if your yard is good sized you'll probably need two so crap avoidance has its price.
--And don't forget to run your hose in such a way that you can turn the water off before you approach the Scarecrow, because it will spray anything in its path; birds, the mailman, anything. This raises some interesting possibilities if you are plagued by door to door salesmen. Contech Electronics CRO101 Scarecrow Motion-Activated Sprinkler
A couple thoughts on this very useful product which I feel slightly guilty about downgrading to four stars:
First, the thing works perfectly, at least for me. Before the Scarecrow, my neighbor's (big) dog left a (big) present on my lawn, every night. Since the Scarecow, never, not once.
Well, okay, once, but that leads to comment two:
The trouble is that the Scarecrow cannot distinguish between me, enjoying my garden on a fine Summer's day, and the dog, doing his thing in the middle of the night. This means that I need to be very careful to set up access to the Scarecrow from behind, so I can turn it off and not get soaked every time I walk across the lawn. Once, I forgot to turn it back on, and, sure enough, that night the dog had done its thing.
Of course this is both a critique and a compliment: the Scarecrow really works. It's just not entirely convenient. Still, I wouldn't be without it and Amazon has it for a great price and free shipping. Can't beat that.
My husband and I were very disappointed to see that neighborhood rabbits had eaten our bean and pea plants to the stem after only two days of being in the ground. We wanted to keep the rabbits out of the garden area without chemicals, unsightly chicken wire, or traps. We purchased the scarecrow and absolutely love it! After replanting, our bean and pea plants are healthy and growing. The scarecrow seems to be doing its job of letting the rabbits know they are not welcome in the garden area. I have told friends and family about our happy results. I would recommend this item to anyone looking for a solution to unwanted intruders.
First off I would tell anyone that this product truly works. If you have any hesitation, my review along with all the others should be proof enough.
I purchased the Scarecrow Sprinkler last year after coming back from vacation to find a brand new shade garden I had planted completely decimated by local deer. We have a family of about 8 deer that I try to keep away, but my neighbors have other agendas. They "feed" the deer with corn which attracts them and frustrates me more and more [if Contech invents a neighbor deterrent, please let me know ;) ]
After mourning the $500+ I lost in plants and shrubs, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I started with "deer-b-gone" or some sort of "organic" deer repellant. It washes away, isn't cheap, smells bad and flat out doesn't work.
I then came across the Scarecrow and decided to give it the old "college try". Well folks, IT WORKS. No more deer, but uh-oh a flaw. Just like others, you have to remember that the Scarecrow is there or "BAM" YOU WILL GET HIT WITH A BLAST OF WATER. It has gotten me, my kids, my wife, a landscaper, our exterminator and one of our neighbors.
LADIES and GENTS..I have the solution to this problem!!!!!
What I realized is that the deer only do their dirty work from dusk to dawn. I thought what if I can get my sprinkler to only work during those hours and shut off during the day. Then I researched to see if there was a water timer that allowed for extended watering times. Say hello to this Orbit timer from Amazon.com Orbit Lawn & Garden Hose Digital Watering Timer And Valve #62001to use in conjunction with the sprinkler. It has completely flexible functions that allow the water to only turn on from say 8 pm to 8 am. It only turns on the water flow to the sprinkler. It will only use the water if the sprinkler motion sensor is set off so no wasted water. At 8 am, the timer turns off the water flow and NO ACCIDENTAL MIDDAY SHOWERS!! Then it kicks back on at 8 pm for another night of protection. These are the times I used but I may need to adjust a bit since I do sometimes make early or late strolls through my garden. You can set to whatever times you need to have it on and off based on your own situation.
So there you have it. Use this product in conjunction with a flexible timer and you get the benefit of excellent deer/pest protection while avoiding many of the minor flaws mentioned in other reviews.
(Update: 4 years after original review: This product continues to keep the deer away. Four years of 6 month a year daily use and the original one is still going strong, plus my Mom bought another herself for another part of the yard. -Excellent product)
I bought this for my Mom in Michigan for Mother's Day. For the past five years she'd tried everything to keep the deer out of her flower garden - netting on the ground, fishing wire placed on posts about 3 feet off the ground... no matter what, some of the deer got in the garden. I'd told her about this product for several years, but she figured it didn't really work, I figured, let's give it a try. It has been installed for 3 weeks now, and the deer have yet to go into her garden (and they live on their property, so they are around). She just told me that some bulbs she planted 5 years ago are blooming for the first time ever - every year before they'd been eaten before they bloomed.
We'd highly recommend this product and she's about to order another.
One hint, get a good hose to go with this product, since the water pressure remains constant, you want a newer hose that can handle that pressure. - Deer Deterrent - Scarecrow - Raccoon Deterrent - Cat Deterrent'
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