University of Minnesota Duluth agronomist and horticulturist Tom Levar has developed a way to protect plants from browsing by deer and mice with a natural hot pepper concentrate delivered to the roots of young plants, making them inedible. Repellex USA, a maker of pest repellents in Niles, Michigan has now licensed the technology.
Levar developed a plant formulation of dimethyl sulfoxide that opens pores in a membrane to move different types of protection chemicals through easily accessible plant pores. Repellex developed tablets with that delivery formulation, which are placed near the roots of a plant. When watered, the tablets release a natural hot pepper concentrate known as capsicum that that the plant absorbs, making it inedible.
Elizabeth Summa, president of Repellex, calls Levar’s discovery “a game-changing technology” adding, “there really is no other systemic deer repellent like this.” The product has been submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for registration.