sodbuster3
New member
My own hard experience with fruit, nut and hardwoods like oak, maple and ash says;
1) Deer are deadly to young trees. They destroy the new growth in the Spring and rip the bark in the Fall. Even one deer can do a lot of damage in a short time. They are also creatures of habit. Once it registers with them that you have young trees, they will be back frequently and with no regard for conservation! (john_bud's estimate above is not an exaggeration)
2) Mice can also destroy young bark in the winter. If you have snow, they tunnel under it and love to chew on the bark. They can easily kill a young tree. I had a naive neighbour suffer a 75% loss in one winter from that alone.
Plastic trunk protectors are a minimum for any tree you want to survive.
Anti-deer fencing is also something to seriously consider.
3) Grass and weed competition are problems but dealing with them is mostly common sense.
9 foot spacing is a bit wide when you consider that some of the trees likely won't make it and a few will be genetic runts that just won't grow much, but you can always replace the ones that don't.
PS. if you are planting any black walnuts, watch out for their toxicity toward other species.
good luck
1) Deer are deadly to young trees. They destroy the new growth in the Spring and rip the bark in the Fall. Even one deer can do a lot of damage in a short time. They are also creatures of habit. Once it registers with them that you have young trees, they will be back frequently and with no regard for conservation! (john_bud's estimate above is not an exaggeration)
2) Mice can also destroy young bark in the winter. If you have snow, they tunnel under it and love to chew on the bark. They can easily kill a young tree. I had a naive neighbour suffer a 75% loss in one winter from that alone.
Plastic trunk protectors are a minimum for any tree you want to survive.
Anti-deer fencing is also something to seriously consider.
3) Grass and weed competition are problems but dealing with them is mostly common sense.
9 foot spacing is a bit wide when you consider that some of the trees likely won't make it and a few will be genetic runts that just won't grow much, but you can always replace the ones that don't.
PS. if you are planting any black walnuts, watch out for their toxicity toward other species.
good luck
