ScareCrow
Product Test
CONSUMER REPORTS MAGAZINE
March 2001 issue, Pages
8 & 9
Outwitting Garden Intruders
All kinds of potions and products promise to keep animals out of the garden. Many are species-specific, inconvenient to use, and only marginally effective. (See "When Bambi Eats Your Flowers," October 1998.)
Contech Electronics' Scarecrow works and is easy to use. It's an equal-opportunity deterrent, be the trespasser a hungry deer or your own exuberant Labrador retriever.
The Scarecrow is a motion-activated sprinkler that can detect activity up to 35 feet away within a 100-degree arc. It makes chugga-chugaa-shhuu noises as its head turns to deliver a 3-second burst of water. The combination of the spray, the noise, and the motion of the sprinkler head scares off intruders before harm is done.
We installed a Scarecrow in one of our test gardens last summer, where we're normally troubled by hungry deer. It worked well-better than more-costly and complicated devices such as electric fencing and deer netting. Deer tracks in our tilled soil indicated that the deer were there often to investigate. Some snuck up behind the Scarecrow, nibbling that section of the garden. The area in front was unmunched until we removed the Scarecrow. The plants were then eaten to the ground.
A shortcoming of the Scarecrow is that it can't be used in freezing temperatures, when hungry deer often go after ornamental shrubs. Gardens in regions subject to freezes still need other methods to protect winter foliage.
Setup is simple. You install a 9-volt battery, attach the Scarecrow to a garden hose, and push the stake into the ground. The manufacturer recommends using-high quality hose and opening the spigot only partially (about a one-quarter turn) to reduce the amount of water released should the hose burst. Each battery, they say, should activate the Scarecrow about 3,000 times. We had to replace our battery after about two months. You may want to replace your battery on a set schedule to make sure your Scarecrow doesn't quit when you need it.
Because the Scarecrow's 'eye' has a viewing range of only 100 degrees, it's
most effective in a garden with restricted access. In a
large garden or one that's exposed, two or more Scarecrows
might provide better coverage.
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