Gilbert Byrnes

Daron Williams wrote:I have used thousands of tubes for my restoration projects and now I'm shifting away from them due to the cost of purchasing them, the issue of getting them to stay put, and the garbage resulting from them.

I had a lot of issues with hard ground combined with wind resulting in the tubes getting messed up. If you are going to use them make sure they are very well secured otherwise they are not worth it.

I use mesh tubes for deer protection - the solid plastic ones are more aimed at protecting against rodents.

For the mesh ones you need to make sure the top of the tree is fully protected. Often this means raising the mesh tubes up about once a year until the top of the tree is above browse height.

For my restoration work I'm shifting to what I call forest islands - circles 30 to 60 feet across. I prep these circles, apply a full layer of mulch, and plant heavily. I'm now looking at installing temp deer fences around each circle that would remain for about 3 years. After 3 years I would remove the fence to use it for a different project.

These fences are cheaper then the tree protectors on a per plant basis.

Not sure if this would be an option for your project but I'm finding the fence is a better option for my projects than the protectors. I'm currently designing a 5 acre restoration project with about 6k plants that will use this method.

Hi did you decide on what type of temp deer fence you are going to use for your islands? What height? Thanks

Wow Darron, thats a lot of planting and land. I dont have that much property to deal with, Im in a suburban type area with 0.8 acre and have to be kind of sensitive toward my neighbors and the township permit deptartment. The back of my lot is kind of wooded, and Id like to expand that a little and improve the mix of species present. We are planning to fence in the whole yard in a year or two, but i think for the 15 or so tree im planning, individual cages will work.

I want to plant some young bareroot trees this year- hammamelis virginiana, cercis canadensis, and either nyssa slyvatica or an amelanchar species. Mostly shrubby multistemmed plants. We have a lot of deer and rodents around. I was looking at the pros/cons and dimension of the tree tubes. I could make 6ft "tubes" out of 2ft 1/4" hardware cloth and stake them with 1/2" pvc conduit for less than the tree tubes. That would prevent the deer from eating them and the rodents from chewing their way in. The 2ft will roll into about 7-1/2" diameter tube. I guess it wont have the greenhouse effect of the plastic tube but i read some studies that show total stem mass between open grown and tree tube grown is the same anyway. Are there any obvious reasons I shouldnt do this and just use the tubes?

I read a study where placing a bright, thick collar on a cat (like a hair scrunchy) was enough to tip off birds before the cat could get them, but didn't make a difference to the cat's success hunting rodents. If you have an indoor/outdoor pet cat, please give it a bright collar.

I live on an old property in a newer suburban type neighborhood. My house is on a main road with the side streets leading to the typical residential area with newer houses and big lawns often with little interrupting the expanse of grass between properties.
My house has a garden area about 10ft deep in front of the porch, then a retaining wall, then the sidewalk, grass strip, curb and street. The street was built around my house not the other way around. The lot is just under an acre with the majority behind the house, having no front lawn area, and it would be a total waste to have all that being a mown grass lawn. The back and side borders of the lot are already tree-lined with silver maple, sycamore, red cedar, norway spruce, white pine, black locust, chokecherry, black cherry, black walnut, and osage orange. The understory on the other hand is a mess of invasive species like multiflora rose, Japanese honeysuckle, mile-a-minute vine, Japanese stilt grass, ground ivy, dock and burdock, and fast spreading stuff like brambles, virginia creeper, poison ivy, and pokeweed. Deer are constantly walking through and eating anything worthwhile.
I believe the easiest way to combat the invasives would be to eliminate them all and just have a big lawn that was mowed down all the time. Thats not really what i want but i understand why my neighbors would. I'm working to keep the invasives at bay and restore a nicer ecosystem along the edges. I still want a mowed area say 20-50ft around the sides of the house to discourage the critters from taking up residence inside my house. Thats 2 reasons I can see- straightforward maintenance, and keeping critters away.