Will this work? Need to protect trees from buck rubs.

[jk96]

Looking for suggestions to protect about 60 maples from deer rubs. The easiest and cheepest thing I can think of would be 3 t-post in a triangle around the trunks to keep the bucks from being able to completely destroy them. Picture attached. The deer were eating them down to the ground every year. This spring I replaced them all with trees that were taller. They can no longer eat the tops but last night a buck took out about 10 of them with his antlers.

 

[bmaverick]

Around the 3X T-posts, 48-inch high welded wire fence wrapped and tied with zip-ties works. We've done this for years. Deer will both rub and eat the bark or the wood destroying your trees.

 

[jk96]

Around the 3X T-posts, 48-inch high welded wire fence wrapped and tied with zip-ties works. We've done this for years. Deer will both rub and eat the bark or the wood destroying your trees.

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Thanks. May have to wire but was hoping to just stop the rubs and keep from doing cages. No issues eating the bark, just antler damage.

 

[ruffdog]

Shoot, I've got 8" dia maples that half the bark got rubbed off. The wife had a bunch of old perfume that I threw on them to stop it and they just move to other trees. They won't rub Black Walnuts but they sure like those Maples. Maybe rub some of that inky walnut stuff on the other trees?

 

[Jstpssng]

Deer were eating my apple trees this spring so I cut up a length of concrete reinforcement mesh and put one around each tree. It's been rolled up for years so held it's shape and stands up on it's own. I can easily move them for mowing.

 

[ArtMech]

Have the same problem here. A mesh around each tree helps.

 

[oosik]

Strange - I have lots of deer around here -mulies and white tailed. They never bothered the apple trees in my orchard. Pocket gophers - a totally different matter.

The deer WOULD eat the low hanging apples in the fall but that was about it.

My be because my dog "irrigated" each and every fruit tree - almost daily.

 

[Alan W.]

Planted a small peach tree the other day and put a cage made of field fence around it, with a t post support.
The deer just nipped it through the openings.
Had to wrap mesh around the fence to stop them

You may want to wrap a spiral of barb wire around the post to help.

Or maybe use this instead

 

[LD1]

Use the 4" corrugated tile/pipe like you have at the bottom. Just make it extend up 4-5'. The stuff is cheap.....less than a buck a foot around me. So ~$5 a tree. A 250' roll would do 50 trees and cost ~$125 from where I buy drainage from

 

[forgeblast]

get some 5' tubex tubes. they last and last and last. its what I have to plant everything in to keep the deer off of them.

 

[Eagle223usa]

WE put in 18 fruit and nut trees last year, we did a complete wire cage wrap around each tree about 3 feet in diameter. lots of work, but it worked.

 

[nybirdman]

they like electric fence post too.

 

[ruffdog]

A big expensive pickup just smacked a buck by my driveway. One less to rub my trees. I hate to see them go that way though.

 

[workinonit]

A gun works well for buck rub control.

 

[Eagle1]

So do big dogs. Never had a deer eat in my gardens, now the geese (ours) are another problem.

 

[jk96]

Ended up doing t posts so they can't push them far enough to snap them and corregated pipe. A lot of work but in 2 days they took out 15 of the 60 I have down my drive. About $$1,000 worth of trees at the current size.

Only question on the pipe is heat trapment being black. I'm wondering if I'm going to have to remove them in the spring once the antlers drop so I don't overhead the trunks. It's perferated pipe but still not sure on that.

 

[forgeblast]

I dont think you need to remove them as the tubex tubes act as a green house promoting growth, (lets them break dormancy earlier.

 

[jk96]

Finally got a look at two of the suspects. The bigger of the two was chasing the other buck from a doe yesterday morning out the back of the house. Was almost dark so these were the best pics I could get. The bigger one is probably the one my wife has been talking about all summer. I had yet to see him until yesterday morning.

 

[RalphVa]

In my experience almost anything works, even some very open plastic mesh material.

 

[jk96]

In my experience almost anything works, even some very open plastic mesh material.

Haven't lost any additional trees since wrapping and adding t-posts. I have 15 that will need replaced this spring when I can get Menards to order some in. Tried to go to the local nursury but they wanted twice the price.