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tree fence

baggin_bucks

baggin_bucks

Active Member
Do any of you have an easy way to make some barrier or some sort of fence to go around young trees? The oak and pine trees that I have planted the past couple of years grow real well during the growing months and then come winter they get hammered and are back down to looking like a twig in the ground or rubbed in half
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It is getting pretty frustating, this is the third year for my first planting and they have grown some but keep getting munched down each winter. I went and caged in each of my fruit trees individually with four stakes and two tiers of wire fence but I don't have very many fruit trees the other trees would take me a year to fence in this way. Just wondering if someone has something that has worked for them in the past or knows of a resource I can even buy some sort of fence. All I can find on the web is a plastic mesh type fence that I don't think will work so well. Thanks for your help.
Jeremy
 
In a timber to protect young trees from cattle and deer I cut hedge and throw the sticky brush around them. Works really well.
 
Drive the country roads and look for spools of used woven laying around. Many farmers have pulled fencing and would be glad to be rid of it. Run an ad in the Farm Bureau Spokesman for old non-useable woven.

You can make "baskets" with it. If it is short, go two high or elevate it on fence posts. Sounds like a lot of work, but so is replanting (and time lost).
 
I've tried hotel soap in nylons hanging in the tree, thiram ( Thiram ), Milorganite ( Milorganite ), human (my) urine, dog/human hair, etc. It seems like the deer get used to all of these attempts and the only 100% way to protect the trees is with some type of barrier. Also, a person needs to reapply the chemicals due to weather and the barriers are a one shot event.
 
Do what JNRBRONC said with the woven wire fence. After somebody here mentioned it I tried it last year. I made circles approx 4' across and did not use any stakes, they will stand up on their own. It takes awhile but I have fenced at least 150+ so far by doing a dozen or so when I have a spare hour. It has made a huge difference in the deer damage to my pines. The taller the fencing the better, but even the 32" stuff I tried has worked so far.

I have tried the Bounce sheets and they do work for a while, but the fence is not that much harder and permenant. Believe me, you'll get tired of the Bounce routine after a few times. If you can find the fencing for free, thats the only way to go.
 
I did the woven wire thing with my fruit trees as I said before but I stacked two sections and put four post in around each tree it took forever. I never thought of just putting the wire around the tree and just let it be free standing, that's a great idea. I could even put some sort of mesh over the top to keep them from reaching in and nibbling the tops
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Now I need to find some more wire, that shouldn't be to hard to find. Go figure two years ago we took a fence out at dads and took the wire to the scrap yard
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Thanks for all your replies guys.
Jeremy
 
Even though I think the deer could reach over the top if they wanted to badly enough, they dont appear to be doing it yet. The only drawback to not staking the cages is that deer will trip over them sometimes in the dark and knock them over. I noticed one that way the other day and the deer had stripped 75% of the needles off that exposed tree. I figure the short fence will atleast keep the bucks from rubbing them to death and I used the short stuff on spruce and cedar, they dont seem to browse them much anyway. The 42" stuff went on my pines and they havent touched a single one that I have seen.
I hit up several farmers for fencing and they were all happy to give it away. Good luck.
 
Bend some #9 wire into "tent stakes" and push them into the ground around the bottom of the wire basket. It will help hold them, especially once the ground freezes. Quicker, cheaper and easier than driving steel fence posts.
 
Timberpig, my spruce trees are candy to the deer. Hopefully once I get them fenced in some of them will recover from the hammering this year
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Bend some #9 wire into "tent stakes"

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thats a great idea, easy and cheap
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What type of spruce do you have? Mine are Norway, which they dont seem to like much, but will rub.
I've read that White spruce is a favored browse species?

Stumbled across some more 4' fence today too...
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. That stuff is everywhere if ya keep your eyes peeled.
 
10 apple trees planted this spring, BIL put up what I thought was a pretty filmsy looking fence and a post but they have left them alone. Deer population is very high in my area- makes me think that any barrier may be enough to discourage them browsing trees. It would be a great experiment to put a bunch out together and protect them differently and see what works.
 
I've just been using chicken wire around my trees with no posts at all and so far...so good! The 16 ft cattle panels work well if you need something heavier, bend em and cut to fit. About $15 a piece though...hard to beat free woven wire!
I have planted literally thousands of Norway spruce and the bucks shred them every fall. I'm going back to red cedars...they don't bother them as much.
Pharmer - let me know how your apple trees do...haven't had much luck with them for some reason. They don't seem to like the heavy ground...or me
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they are white spruce TP, I would have planted something different if I would have known better back then
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They are more for concealment in a spot that allows you to see back to the river at the front of my property so they will do their purpose if they ever grow up
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I figured they must be Whites, try Norways next time, they dont like 'em. Mine are for basically the same reason, visual barrier. Technically they are a "field windbreak" according the the NRCS, to me they are just to make the deer feel comfortable feeding in my field which is in direct veiw of the road. I cant help but look at them all summer long and silently scream "Grow, damn it!!". I really enjoy my tree plantings, but the nieghbors (all farmers) looked at me like I was an idiot
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I hope you have better luck with your Norways then I have. The bucks shred them every fall! I figure I have planted close to 3000 in my shelterbelt/windbreak as a poacher screen. They are 8-10 years old and most are less then 2 ft high still. I planted Autumn Olives (shrubs) which are listed as an "invasive species" because they can spread (mine have not) I planted them 2 rows wide about 4 ft apart and within 3 years I had a perfect "screen" all the way around my place. The farmer next door had a fit and still thinks I'm a lunatic
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There are other native shrubs that you can plant also that will give you a screen while you are waiting for the Norways to grow.
 
It's funny how things grow differently in different areas. My Norways were planted in '03 and most are 24"-30" with a couple pushing 40"+. Most look really healthy, in fact I considered transplanting a couple to the front yard for ornamentals. These are planted in an ag field though and the soil is pretty decent there. The trees I planted in old pasture ground have not done as well for the most part. The deer have only rubbed a couple, ones that had alot of space between branches. I used the low fence on them to stop the rubbing.

I also planted a single row of Redosier Dogwoods in front of the windbreak and those things grow quickly. Deer like to browse them but the tree farmer I spoke with said that will actually benefit them by enouraging them to get thicker. Natural pruning I guess.

Those farmers battle tree invasions for years and spent tons of time and money killing them off. Then somebody like you or me comes in and plants a couple thousand right smack in the middle of a crop field, to attract deer which will probably eat their crops. No wonder they think we are retarded.
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Those farmers battle tree invasions for years and spent tons of time and money killing them off. Then somebody like you or me comes in and plants a couple thousand right smack in the middle of a crop field, to attract deer which will probably eat their crops. No wonder they think we are retarded.

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Oh this is so true
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The guy I bought my farm from is a older farmer everytime he drives by and sees something else planted he asks what the heck did you do that for?
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TP...I'm jealous!! Sounds like your Norways are going great guns!! What kind of ground do you have the dogwoods planted on? I was thinking they needed low moist soil, but I haven't tried them...yet!
Farmer next door thought I was crazy when I planted the trees...but when I planted turnips...he figured I had went completely off the deep end!!
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