If you’re like most gardeners, you probably have at least a few tulips in your yard. Tulips are beautiful flowers that add a touch of elegance to any garden. But do deer eat tulips?
The answer is yes – deer will eat the seeds, blooms, buds, leaves, and stems of tulips. Deer are attracted to tulips because they’re usually well-watered, fertilized, and are a great source of nutrition.
Considering that a single deer can eat several pounds of plants each day, you can see how deer eating tulips can really do some serious damage to your garden!
In this article, we’ll discuss how to stop deer from eating your tulips and why they eat them in the first place.
Why Do Deer Eat Tulips?
As we covered, deer will eat every part of a tulip (stem, leaves, blossoms, and all) when they’ve got the chance.
But why do they do this?
Deer like lush plants that are well-watered and fertilized, and tulips check every box.
Deer can do some serious damage to a large amount of tulip plants single sitting if they’re hungry enough!
This was confirmed in a 1999 study on deer plant eating habits by Cornell University.
Flowers like tulips contain water, sugar, and nutrients, which makes them an ideal food source for deer.
And don’t think that your newer tulips are safe either: deer actually prefer new growth because they’re more tender.
Additionally, deer will consume a wide variety of foods like tulips based on opportunity.
Tulips attract deer because they are planted in the ground or in pots, so they’re easy to access.
In fact, some folks specifically put tulip plants around their food plots to attract deer.
If you’re not convinced, leave some potted tulips out or plant some, and wait to see what happens!
How Do I Keep Deer From Eating My Tulips?
There are a few things to keep in mind when you’re protecting tulips from hungry deer: their habits, your scent, repellent options, and when you plant them.
Deer will eat nearly anything if they’re hungry enough, so your main goal is making your garden as least inviting to deer as possible.
Check out our guide on how to keep deer from eating plants where we cover 25 quick and easy tips for keeping hungry deer out of your garden.
What Kinds Of Tulips Do Deer Eat?
Deer will eat all kinds of tulips, including darwin hybrid, triumph, double, fringed, fosteriana, greigii, kaufmanniana, lily-flowered, parrot, single early, single late, viridiflora, and species tulips.
Whatever kind of tulips you have, you’re well advised to take precautions to keep deer from eating them!
Will My Tulips Grow Back After Deer Eat Them?
If a deer eats the leaves off a tulip before the flowers grow, they usually don’t have enough energy to grow back.
If a deer eats the tulip bud, continue to encourage the remaining foliage to grow as much as possible, that way the bulb can flower again next year.
If deer happen to munch down your tulips, continue regular care of your plants including watering and fertilizer as necessary until they’re back to good health.
Are Tulips Good For Deer?
Yes, tulips are very healthy for deer to eat.
Deer eating tulips provides them with the following vitamins and minerals:
- Potassium
- Calcium
- Magnesium
These vitamins and minerals provide deer with many benefits.
Potassium is great for deer because it helps maintain good pH balance and aid in proper digestion.
Deer need calcium for bone, teeth, and antler growth and health as well as other bodily functions like milk production and metabolism.
Magnesium helps with antler growth, increasing body weight, and has immune system benefits for deer.
Fat-Soluble Vitamins in tulips For Deer
Vitamins A, D, E, K, and calcium are fat-soluble, so they can be stored in the deer’s fat and liver to be used later as needed.
This means that calcium content from deer eating tulips can be “stored up” for later use, which is highly beneficial.
Water-Soluble Vitamins In tulips For Deer
Vitamin C, B Vitamins, niacin, folic acid, and potassium are all water-soluble, which means they cannot be stored, so they must be replaced continually.
So a deer that eats tulips for the potassium content must continue to consume foods that contain these necessary vitamins to stay healthy.
Do Deer Eat Tulips? Wrapping Things Up
So, do deer eat tulips?
The answer is yes!
Deer will eat as many tulip plants as they can, and they benefit from the vitamins and minerals found in these flowers.
Fortunately, there are things you can do to keep them away like using fences, motion-activated devices, or reducing the enticing scent that your tulips give off to ward off deer from eating them.
Have any observations to add to the discussion? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.
Check our our other helpful wildlife guides while you’re here:
