Different tree protection method

[Northbound]

I've driven past this property a few times lately on my way to a public parcel. Keep hoping to see the owner outside to talk to him but never do and never any tire tracks in his driveway even. Some trees have traditional tubes and others have these white boxes. Looks almost like a plastic cardboard from a distance?? I'm very curious what these are and others thoughts on them. I'm normally a tube guy even though they do have problems with apple trees, I just very much hate getting pictures of bucks with fence or wire in there antlers so that's why I don't fence trees. These boxes might be the cure, nothing for the buck to snag and allow enough access room to cut off low branches

 

[Tree Spud]

Looks like scrap materials, probably 1" foam insulation board. The tree never sees any light or wind stress which means it will grow in a sterile environment without developing the fiber strength to support growth once released.

I never put fruit trees in tubes anymore. They grow to fast and become whippy (trees need wind stress to promote fibrous structure) and the tubes are havens for mice.

 

[Northbound]

Whatever it was it's definitely like 1/4" thick and in a very windy area so I don't think foam would have survived. He seems to be a bit of a pro from what I could see of his property. Really wanna walk up the 30 yards from road to investigate knowing that most of us tree dorks are pretty friendly but never know...
I've actually never had the whipy problem with tubes ever since going to a whipy sched20 pvc stake it seemed to help. Id like to be able to prune low branches easier thou

 

[homerj]

From the looks of it, the guy is doing a bit of an experiment with a few types of tubes and some kind of homemade protection unit.

Without a doubt, he'd be the kind of guy who would be worth having a lengthy habitat discussion with...IMO

 

[rocksnstumps]

Agree probably some scrap material the guy gets from work for nothing. My concern would be about the amount of light getting in there to help grow stuff and sure he might get it for free but unless you have a similar source for materials now you gotta shell out some money. Some positives would be the extra space inside and probably too big an area inside them for mice to build a nest. I rarely find nests in my biggest dia tubes if I make sure that fallen/dead leaves don't build up. The tubes that stack inside other tubes, the smaller ones are most likely to have a mice problem. So I window screen everything whether inside a tube or cage. When I do use cages they get t-posts, plenty sturdy and not going to get hung up in some rack, unlike my trees.....basturds