New Saplings and Deer Damage...

[ultrarunner]

A little over a year ago I panted 36 trees around my place... 25 Aptos Blue Redwoods down by the creek and 11 Coastal Oaks on the Property Line.

The trees adjusted fine and lots of healthy new growth... I was very pleased even with having to draw water by bucket from the creek during the hottest months of summer.

I'm in the city limits so Deer are not normally a problem...

A few months ago, a 4 pointer moved into the area and each and every tree now has the branches and bark skinned-off from about 18" to 48" above... just my luck.

Any ideas short of installing individual fencing around each with T-Posts and Wire...

Deer are never in season within City Limits...

 

[ultrarunner]

Forgot to mention... everytime I have come across the Buck he is fearless... really doesn't seem to care who is around...

When I run him off... he just looks for awhile and then will slowly turn and lazily walk away... never seen him on the move...

This year I have counted 7 plus the Buck...

For years... there has not been any... also have large flocks of wild turkeys... 25 +/-, Gray and Red Foxes, Skunks, Possums, Racoons and Red Tail Hawks...

There have also been reports of a small Mountain Lion...

Seems city living suits these guys just fine.

 

[Pete Judd]

I have had to put wire cages around my fruit trees to keep the "rats with antlers" from chewing them down to nothing.

 

[creekbend]

As strange as this sounds, this works on protecting your garden from deer feeding. I do not know about using this method in regards to trees. Horse manure works with gardens. An Amish farmer introduced me to this method many years ago. He put it on his garden. I tried it once in the beginning to find out if it worked or not. I spread horse manure on one half of my garden and left the other half untouched. The deer rarely fed on the half that was supplemented with horse manure, but ate everything in sight on the other half. It is not 100% effective, but it does act as a viable deterrent. Try not to have much straw or hay in the manure when spreading. Just a thought. Good Luck.

 

[Locoweed]

Just wrap a layer of fence around the tree trunk, make it a few inches too big. They are afraid of getting their antlers stuck in the mesh.

 

[clemsonfor]

Tree shelters if still small, you can split them lengthwise and wrap around as well.

Go to Ben Medows, online and look at the stuff they have.

 

[CJBOTA]

I have an orchard in northeast Ohio. I hang a bar of regular scent Irish spring soap in every tree. I drill a hole in the soap and put a plastic tie thru and attach as close to the center of the tree as possible. When it rains you get a soap film on thr trunk of the tree. I have had fantastic results doing this.

 

[300UGUY]

I made barriers out of small pieces of fence. Looks a little redneck, but stops the chewing. I had some fruit trees simply eaten up before I started protecting them. One night, I walked outside about 1 am. Less than 20 feet from the house was a big 10 or 12 point buck, chewing on the landscaping. That sucker cleared a 4 ft fence like it was nothing!!! Around here, deer are mostly nocturnal. You rarely see them in full light. They come out in the evening and the morning to feed. They bed down during the day.

 

[ultrarunner]

So far no evidence of chewing... just a pile of branches at the base of each tree with one side of the bark rubbed raw on the trunk.

 

[Tollster]

Depending on the diameter, I have always had luck using some sort of hose or flex pipe, 2.5" 0r 3.0" wrpped around the trunk to about 4' or so in height. Slice it lengthwise. I used to used fencing, but the hose is much cheaper. Check underneath it for fungus or molds twice a year if your in a wet area, ya want it to be kind a loose.

I bet there could be a market for tree trunk grey!

Evergreens you could wrap in burlap for the fall and winter so they don't brouse.

 

[Western]

So far no evidence of chewing... just a pile of branches at the base of each tree with one side of the bark rubbed raw on the trunk.

Sounds like a "rub" My deer have killed half of my little trees I have planted compounded by drought.

I have used the pipe insulation foam and they don't mess with it anymore, keeping the tree alive after a buck rubs the he$$ out of it has been another problem for me.

 

[dusty3030]

Forgot to mention... everytime I have come across the Buck he is fearless... really doesn't seem to care who is around...

When I run him off... he just looks for awhile and then will slowly turn and lazily walk away... never seen him on the move...

This year I have counted 7 plus the Buck...

For years... there has not been any... also have large flocks of wild turkeys... 25 +/-, Gray and Red Foxes, Skunks, Possums, Racoons and Red Tail Hawks...

There have also been reports of a small Mountain Lion...

Seems city living suits these guys just fine.

Bow plus arrow equals venison.

 

[jocww]

These the same trees from costco? I bought 38 of them for our ranch in Livermore. I used concrete wire and made cages. But mine was to keep the cattle from knocking them down. I want to say half died from heat Im in Livermore. Where are you from?

 

[ultrarunner]

These the same trees from costco? I bought 38 of them for our ranch in Livermore. I used concrete wire and made cages. But mine was to keep the cattle from knocking them down. I want to say half died from heat Im in Livermore. Where are you from?

They all came from Marlene at the Hayward Home Depot

I had never thought of plants from Home Depot... the nursery prices were very high and a co-worker told me to try Home Depot.

I went in and the garden manager happened to be there... told what I wanted and she ordered them... she said no problem if I didn't want them and she would hold them till I could take a look... started with 4 and 4.

They are all rooted in the Oakland Hills where poison oak used to reign...

Thought some day, the Redwoods would make a nice little grove down the creek... also low enough not to get in some one's way as they mature.

The Oaks I planted are for screening... they are mostly to add a little privacy from a neighbors vantage point... I have a couple of trailers and a chipper outside... out of sight... out of mind is my thinking.

All have done real well till the wayward Buck moved in...

Nice Redwoods ran from $9.95 to $19.95 (15 gallon) and the 15 gallon Oaks all came in at $29.95...

You're probably my closest TBN neighbor... not many tractors the closer in you get... I don't know anyone in Oakland.

 

[North West Farmer]

I don't recall the official name of the items, but they are a plastic mesh, expandable tube that is placed around the tree at planting time. In our case, we are usually planting doug fir, red cedar, redwood and hemlock.

The saplings, usually from 18" to 24" in length are placed in the protective plastic sleeve. The tree is planted through a slit in a four buy four biodegradable plastic ground cover that is stacked down with approximately 6inch long metal staples (4 staples per tree). The ground cover keeps the competition with other plants directly around the tree minimal and the plastic mesh, expandable sleeve protects the young trees from the browsers, usually deer. Within three years the ground cover has disintegrated and disappears. The mesh, expandable sleeve is moved up the tree as it grows to protect the new growth foliage. Within four to five years the sleeves biodegrade and fall off of the tree, which is usually tall enough and large enough to withstand the attack of the deer and other browsers by that time.

Some trees receive damage to the point that some are stunted to a degree. If we experience tree loss during their early years, the loss is usually more than likely due to lack of moisture, years where things get too dry in late August and into September.

This planting technique does not solve all of your problems, but if your are located in the rain forest north west region, we have had very good results using the described planting process.

Nick, North West Farmer

 

[Redneck in training]

We are at war with deer too. After we bought our property in 2002 we planted about 20 poplars. They lasted only one week. Fortunately they are hard to kill so they sprouted again, were bit off again, sprouted again several time around. Later on we added about 2000 trees of various kinds. To protect them I bought Fiberglas posts and run electric fence along the rows of the trees. It worked pretty well because the deer got zapped when they approached the trees. It was PITA to mow though. So we bought few hundred T posts, insulators and fenced the area with three string fence. It worked for some time but then I saw a doe jumping over. After that I added a 4 ft. long cantilever (made from the fiberglass posts) to the top of the T post with another charged string on the end. It worked for some time preventing them jumping without being zapped. It worked until they figured that they could squeeze between the strings. So we added two more strings. I also bought new charger with 10000 V pulse. Don't know how long it will protect the trees but so far it does. I see deer close to the fence but so far this year we didn't suffer tree damage.

If you have small number of trees you can use the tube as suggested in another post. You could buy corugated drainage pipe 3 or 4 inches diameter, cut it with circular saw along the axis so you could put it on the trunk.
It is cheap.
People here also hang multiflora rose branches on the trees. Deer don't like to mess with it.

 

[forgeblast]

I have a lot of deer pressure, there is one family group that is 6 strong that hangs out on our property.
I have had great success with tubex tubes. You will need to go with the 5' high ones.
look at forestry supply, you want to look for a 2 piece tube since they are in the ground, or you can cut the tubex and just zip tie them. The tubex tubes are impressive.

Rigid Seedling Protector Tubes

or goggle tree tubes.
I have planted over 200 trees (crep planting), most of my oaks, black walnut, and butternut are at the top of the tubes and I check them all the time to see if any were nibbled on. None were.

 

[jocww]

Im even closer than you think, we have a house on Vancleave way. Which is off Redwood road, right below Skyline. But I live in San Ramon. HD is pretty good since they will let you return the treees if they die. Even from Deer. 10 bucks is really good for trees!

 

[KYDan]

Crossbow, good range, silent, and deadly. Eradicates repeat offenders permanently.

 

[GolfAddict]

I use drain tile tubing, the black plastic stuff. At the local home improvement store they offer various diameters and lengths. I get a long length, cut a section off for each tree, then slice it up the side length-wise with a jigsaw using a metal blade. The fine teeth of the metal blade won't jump around much in the plastic and you can slice a nice narrow line right down the length. Then just stretch it open and around the trunk. It's a bit of a pain pulling it open and getting it around the tree. It's worked best for me to start at the bottom and work my way up.