Habanero Angst

The habaneros seem to be my problem child this year. The first 2 died rather quickly, presumably due to bad drainage and excessive rainfall.  I repotted 2 more and they seemed to be doing very well. I was happy to even see them flowering. Then I found one had been eaten by a deer. Badly eaten. It's the one on the left that was badly eaten. 

Now they're in a screened in porch, but that can't be good for sunlight and pollination. I ordered a motion-activated sprinkler, which should be in later this week. The tag line was "squirt 'em, don't hurt 'em."  And I can get on board with that! I'm also wondering if a motion-activated light would help as well. My final line of defense is to have our dog pee all over the yard and I can brush her and leave her fur out there, but this seems way too subtle for such brazen deer. 

And now we'll place blame... It's my own fault for the most part. I put out a bird feeder with seed which apparently attracts the deer. I did not know this. The bird house was on a pole in the middle of the lawn, but when the lawn was getting mowed someone moved the bird house right on top of the hostas.  I noticed there was no bird seed left the next day. Also, they took bites out of some hostas that hadn't been eaten at all until I lured them with bird seed. Not having learned my lesson, I didn't change a thing and the deer came back the next night and ate one peony and one pepper plant. Grrr. 

Silly me thinking I could deter a deer with a hot pepper plant!!