Fence/Wire type recommendation to protect young trees/plants from wildlife??

[Tangoddess]

Hello dears,

I have a quick question for you. We are planning to plant maybe 50 or so young trees, mostly fruit, some flowering, plants and some seeds/root stock on our land once it is in a reasonable shape.

The issue is that we do have Deer and other wildlife, big and small, visit, and are concerned they will chomp on the trees, young trees etc.

I know there are several types of wire/fences that once can put in a circle around the tree to protect it from the wildlife. The problem is we do not know what is the most suitable type for us, especially as we will likely need several hundred feet in width.

As for the height, we presume either 4 ft or 5 ft should be ok. We went to the big box HD and Lowes and they had different types of wire, e.g. galvanized, vinyl, for example in 20 gauge or 16 gauge, but they are like $50 for a 4 ft by 150ft roll.

Given that there are so many options, we do not know what type we need. We want to get the product which is good enough, so we can get more of it.

What do you recommend/use to protect your young trees, plants, from wildlife?

Thank you

 

[RNeumann]

With that scale I’d be looking at something like 5-6’ “no climb” wire/fence. Skip the depot and ask the fence store or co-op. Typically they are cheaper at that size and scale. I’d also invest in a nice set of wire cutters......snip snip repeat. I’d drive a t-post or at least a concrete stake to hold each one.

 

[mcfarmall]

Here in Michigan the deer can jump a 6' fence like it's not even there. The places that are serious about keeping deer in or out have 8'-10' perimeter fences. This means some serious $$$$.

 

[bunyip]

We use plastic 44 gallon drums with the bottom cut out and we use star pickets to secure them to, horses are our main problem.
When the tree is established we either lift it over the top or cut the drum from top to bottom and remove it then 'stitch' it back together with cable ties so we can use it again.
We don't have deer (except the odd escapee from a deer farm and they are not that tall) and roo's only graze.

 

[forgeblast]

We used 5' tubex tubes to keep the deer and voles off our trees.

 

[oosik]

We have all the same wildlife here in Eastern Washington state that you do in Texas - at least the kind that will bother/eat new plantings. We've been out here going on 40 years and VERY SELDOM does anything ABOVE GROUND bother newly planted fruit or ornamental trees.

Here - its those NASTY pocket gophers. They will eat the roots on newly planted trees - right back to where the trunk will look like a freshly rolled cigar.

I've tried lining the dug hole with a 2" layer of broken glass with limited success. The best success - almost 100% - is with using gopher cages. Its a heavy gauge, one inch wire mesh cage. Dig the hole - install the cage - place sufficient soil in the hole to hold the tree - install the tree - fill and compact the hole.

The gopher cage gives the newly planted tree room for development of its roots and excludes ravenous gophers.

 

[Oldoak]

With that scale I’d be looking at something like 5-6’ “no climb” wire/fence. Skip the depot and ask the fence store or co-op. Typically they are cheaper at that size and scale. I’d also invest in a nice set of wire cutters......snip snip repeat. I’d drive a t-post or at least a concrete stake to hold each one.

Just what we did years ago when we started our apple and pear orchard. Eighty five trees. It costs us more for the wire and stakes than it did the fruit trees and a lot of work. But we planted the trees over a three year period. Five foot high fence worked for us. Yes the deer could still reach them but by that time the trees were growing vigorously enough the deer didn't hurt them. As the trees matured, then we got bear damage. Sometimes they would break the branches as they climbed the young trees to get at the fruit. But the trees survived.

Before using fence, it was impossible to start any young trees. I don't fault the deer or the bear, we moved into their home ground. It's all part of co-existing with wildlife and nature.

 

[Paddy]

Tangoddess,

I do not know how big your Texas deer are, but 4 ft would be very low for mid-western deer. Deer do love to eat sweet fruit wood. We planted 6 fruit trees and "caged" them. We used 5 ft tall welded wire 2 x 4 in fence making a 6 ft dia circle, approx 20 ft length. I read once the tree out grows the cage, the trees can withstand the lower branch chopping.

In any case it's a lot of fence, your cages would be 1000 feet! Likely the same to just fence off the plot.
Next is ele fence, the raccoons can climb anything!

 

[ericm979]

Gopher cages are a must here. We learned that the hard way.

 

[EddieWalker]

Beavers cause the most trouble for me and trees that we've planted. Our orchard is inside our dog pen, along with our vegetable garden, so nothing bothers those trees. To stop the beavers, we put in three T posts and some welded wire. We went with the cheapest that will allow the trees to mature. By then, we plan to fence in our place and keep the beavers, coyotes and hogs out. We've found that we cannot shoot any of them fast enough to have an impact on their destruction, so spending the money on the fence is our best solution.