Apple Trees

[outinthetalgrass]

ok kinda late, but here is a picture of my solutiion to the deer in the fruit tres.. my closest neighbor thought it might be overkill, but I told him, I was going to war against the deer and planned to win.

 

[retiredmgn]

Don't know of a spray that works. I tried the rotten egg stuff and ruined a $100 back pack sprayer plugging it up .

I've heard that hanging out a fresh deer hide every day will eventually stop the problem.

What he said.
Spray you ask? Spray of 'buckshot' can can be rather effective.
So I've heard.

"I've heard that hanging out a fresh deer hide every day will eventually stop the problem."
Man that is good. I'm still laughing.
Mark Twain would have used something like that.

 

[Chuck52]

ok kinda late, but here is a picture of my solutiion to the deer in the fruit tres.. my closest neighbor thought it might be overkill, but I told him, I was going to war against the deer and planned to win.

Gadzooks! I just put mulch around the twenty or so trees I have in fence circles. I spend about $20/tree protecting them, but at least I can use the fence and t-posts over.

Chuck

 

[keegs]

ok kinda late, but here is a picture of my solutiion to the deer in the fruit tres.. my closest neighbor thought it might be overkill, but I told him, I was going to war against the deer and planned to win.

Looks like Gitmo.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I fenced mine too. It's worked great. Kept the deer out nicely. Sadly, our snow has receded here enough that I can see it didn't keep something out. I think it must have been a porcupine. All the bark is gone from the lower couple of feet. I fear I will lose them all.

Kind of defeating to constantly battle the wild critters to try to have a few decent non-native trees. ​

Chicken wire mesh around the trunk will protect it from porcupine and beaver, but you might have to bait for rodent damage under snow.

 

[tractordog]

I just planted one tree and planning to plant maybe 5 more. Will the deer only eat the apples or destroy the tree.

 

[bdw593]

They will eat all the leaves off and destroy the tree. Use the posts and fishing line. This works and is the cheapest alternative.

 

[forgeblast]

put something low, a rabbit will girdle the tree and kill it come winter.

 

[studor]

ok kinda late, but here is a picture of my solutiion to the deer in the fruit tres.. my closest neighbor thought it might be overkill, but I told him, I was going to war against the deer and planned to win.

Now you just need a dog inside each of those

 

[Little_Grizzly]

Great thread. I just had to add my troubles to the list. Deer are somewhat of a problem but a really high fence around the whole thing seems to have stemmed the tide. But my real problem is some kind of small rodent!

I wish I had a picture handy but one year I was watching a beautiful crop come in. Every weekend there seemed to be more and more and all very healthy. Until one fateful weekend....

Not one single apple on any of the trees. and I mean NOT ONE apple. No broken branches...no footprints...no leaves eaten. Complete mystery. I suspected human involvement but these were still far from ready to be picked (August I think).

Mystery was somewhat solved when I opened the door to the outhouse I have not far away. Inside was the most carefully constructed bed of shredded apple holding the entire crop of apples piled in a massive pyramid against the back corner. I'm talking well over a hundred 1.5" diameter apples!

It took us a long time to figure out how they got in there. We found a hole big enough to fit the apples way at the very top of the outhouse where there is a screen. This persistent little ******* must have bitten off the apple...let it drop...push it about 20 yards to another tree..carried it up..pushed it through the hole then piled it on. Then repeated the entire process over and over.

Needless to say I robbed the little ******* of his bounty. Never did find out what the critter was though. Ever since that year we've never had another successful crop for one reason or another. This year WILL be different. (I hope)

 

[MNBobcat]

I just planted one tree and planning to plant maybe 5 more. Will the deer only eat the apples or destroy the tree.

You need at least 2 trees so that they cross pollinate. Assuming you don't have another tree elsewhere already...