About a month ago I planted some new fruit trees. In my post about the planting of the trees @goldenoakfarm pointed out I should add fencing around them to protect them from deer... thanks for pointing that out.
So I got myself some welded wire fencing and cut it to fit around each of the young trees. Its hard to say if they already got preyed upon during the month they were uncovered.. I cannot tell the difference from insects eating the leaves and the deer mostly. I guess the ones the deer eat are missing more stem than just leaf like bugs do. But I think I got to them soon enough where they should come back strong next year.
I have pear trees, a plum tree and a peach tree. Hopefully one day they get big and strong, and in the mean time I need to protect them from large animals that roam the property. Deer will use their antlers and rub up against the trees causing damage. They will also eat the young leaves and stems of the plant. Protecting them is something that is important to do.
Picked up the 6 foot tall fencing at my local hardware store. I cut it to size using wire cutters.
Still lots left on the spool, got around 50 feet of it.
Cutting the fencing wires I make sure to leave some meat so I can wrap around the metal to each other.
Slowly but surely I get it all prepared.
I made a few in different sizes, as the young trees are a little different shaped from each other.
Once all prepped, I move the wire frame out to where the young fruit trees are.
Glad none of them fell out during my drive, or got pulled out getting too close to tress.. lol
Using some ground stakes I tied them to the posts.
Should do well I think, until they grow more.. then they will need larger ones.
I may need to redo just one of them, as still has some leaves sticking out. If its a buck eating these it probably wont risk getting its antlers tied up in it. But not sure if a female will still eat the bits poking out.
I may need to add more stakes, for now each has two holding the fencing in place.. but may add two more to each.
Hopefully they will be protected, but time will tell.
Previous posts on this project:
https://peakd.com/hive-114308/@solominer/adding-fruit-trees-to-the-deer-food-plot-area
Deer are a pain in the A for sure lol. Have you thought about fencing in the entire orchard?
Those fuckers can jump really high it'll be easier to fence the trees lol
I have a 1/3 acre area fenced in, but I am growing annuals in there.. If I put all my fruit trees in there I would take up more than half of the whole space. So I decided just to fence each tree in.
Haha, what an interesting post! I didn't know deer could be so dangerous for crops. I can only imagine how it must feel to have such a large mammal entering your area unannounced and destroying your work. In my country, Cuba, we don't have such large wild animals.
Yeah it is quite annoying, but its okay.. seems like there are good ways to deal with them.
Oh interesting, did not know yall did not have anything large there.
It is important not on’y for deers but rabbits also like chew young trees! Important to protect young trees with that :)
Ah yeah we have had rabbits try to sneak under my fenced in garden area. Gonna fix that by adding rocks to the base of the varmint barrier.
So true, they need to change to get bigger before everything tries to eat them.
Isn't it too long?
My wire fence came in 6 foot lengths so I did not want to cut it. Hopefully they will grow up vertically.
Hopefully
Hope your work pays off. Did not know deer messed with crops so much.
Thanks, yeah they indeed will.
gg
That looks like it is a lot more fun to work with than chicken wire. That stuff cuts the heck out of my hands when I make my Christmas tree decorations. I thought it was a disc golf basket when I saw the opening photo in my feed!
They both suck, gotta go slow and try to use pliers when I can.
Haha, good point!
Makes sense protecting them like that! I didn’t realize they eat the leaves and buds but it makes sense. Those little shits. We have a neighbor starting an apple tree and I was curious what they were protecting it from - deer makes sense!
Seems its mostly the young trees they feed on. I have some older ones on the property and have not seen them eat the leaves.. But I should set up trail cams to check that honestly.
Yeah they will eat them for sure.. I had a buck rubbing its antlers against one of my fruit trees damaging its bark.. had to put up a wire cage around that one too.
This is the best way to protect our trees from animals. Love the method. I wish you luck on your farm
Ah thank you, we shall see how it helps long term.
You have choose the best option. The plant is very safe from animals. Thanks for sharing your farm with us.
I hope they hold up well.. glad you liked it.
I used to work at a ranch and did this with 200 tomatoe plants every season. It's a workout and took several days to do it all by myself and one other little helper named Becky. A black retriever.
Oh you built cages around the tomato plants?
I have bought mine, but I could see how you can build them with welded wire fencing.
Yup. I found this link from wikihow to be really spot on with how it is done based on my own experience.
Chicken wire works ok too if you add some sturdy takes to it. But then chicken wire might be bad choice because if those tomatoes get pushed up against it, it will grow around the wire. Good luck with that. Better to just feed them to the chickens.
5 strong tomato plants for one household is a lot of tomato.
1 tomato can give you 50 plantS easy.
They way I do it is I just cut 2-3cm thick sliced and feed them to the soil as is. Add water and carry on. In about 2 weeks or less you should have plenty of seedlings ready for the first transplanting.
Works for me every time. I haven't planted a sound garden in a while though. Not much time in my hands unfortunately. Aiming to change that a bit more as time goes on. Looking for a house maiden I can trust. Probably get my nieces for the job lol.
I can't imagine if I had a two-acre orchard, how much would it cost me to buy a wire fence to keep out annoying animals like deer. lol
That is why I chose not to fence it in. And just build small fences around the plants.
I do have a 1/3 acre fenced in, and that was quite a bit of work as well building. That is where I grow my annuals.
Fencing a 1.3-hectare garden is a lot of work to do, of course you also have to spend a lot of money to buy a wire fence, but on the one hand it is very good to protect our plants.
This is really a beautiful idea
thanks.. it should help
Could you just harvest 1-2 deer on the spot, to keep the pressure down and fill the freezer?
Its not deer season yet, and I have not seen them actually eat the plants so I cannot hunt out of season. I should set up some trail cams to see if they do.
But deer season starts around mid November so its not long now.
Oh wow, it was more of a hypothetical question - didn't realize it's that simple.
I'd even go as far as planting double and let them eat some, if I was in turn allowed to harvest 1-2, honestly. I'd prefer veal jerky over spinach anyways...
Next to the bicycle and all the non-working holidays in the year, these woven wire fences are probably the most important invention. Without this kind of protection, I'd be better off leaving the plants in the nursery or feeding them to the deer straight away.😮
So true, I love this stuff. I have an eight foot fenced in area I grow my annuals in.
It's good you left them tall. My little trees grew so fast that even though we left them very wide also, they had grown out of the cages by the next year. I had to put covers on the tops of the 2nd Little trees' cages as they were tall enough the deer could chew the tops over the cage.
I am glad too, I was considering cutting them in half but seemed to short so I did not. Was not sure how they were going to grow... Them growing taller or wider. So them being tall should help.
Oh man yeah I can see how that could happen. Well I may need to make some new ones that are wider. I will keep these narrow ones for climbing annuals or something like that.
Hello @solominer
What great advice you received, and how good that you put it into practice, it is true that the deer will try to feed on them
Excellent work
Hopefully it will help, I have seen deer eat trees before but never really had a young tree where they would be preyed upon.
Your area seems to be deer infested, the protector is apt to prevent them from doing further damage.
Great job 👍
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That same technique can be applied when you move the cannabis plants outside..
Very cool DIY tip 👍
It’s like telling deers that they are welcome but don’t chew on my trees 😜
The fencing is both a creative and preventive idea, surely it keeps away the deer.