Rip it out or wait?

[trampledbyturtles]

Should I give this guy another year to try and heal over or rip it out and start over?Dang rabbits chewed on it the night after planting. Gave it a year, didnt seem to heal over much.

 

[Telemark]

That's a bummer. It will probably survive, but with a potentially weakened trunk. We have a lot of wild apples like that near my cabin.

If it's a dwarf rootstock it probably isn't a problem. If it's a full size rootstock it might fall over before it's time is due.

Personally, I hate ripping out trees and only do it as a last resort. I would rather regraft it, bridge graft it, graft a rootsucker, or top it before I resort to drastic measures.

That tree looks like it's healing fine. If it were my tree I would wait.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

If you need the spot for another tree, replace it, since it will probably be stunted some. If not, let it be. It should grow into a decent tree some day.

 

[chickenlittle]

I'd let it be.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

It appears to be healing well, so I would leave it be.

 

[cavey]

Its healing and has an established root system... to quote an old song .... let it be, let it be .... la la la

 

[chummer]

I have much worse. Next year you will hardly notice it.

 

[H20fwler]

I had a few I thought the voles had girdled hard enough to kill last year and a couple survived to my surprise and are doing great now. I did paint over the wounds with TreeKote last spring and then again a few weeks ago where that had healed over because I saw a few small cracks like yours have on them. Just don't want to let any bugs in, trying to give them as much help as I can. Eventually I think they will completely heal fine.

 

[Mortenson]

Do fruit trees ever reach a size where they're safe from real bad vole damage?

 

[chummer]

Do fruit trees ever reach a size where they're safe from real bad vole damage?

Once the bark turns rough. 10 years give or take.

 

[cavey]

Do fruit trees ever reach a size where they're safe from real bad vole damage?

What Chummer said seems to be the key....

If the bark is smooth - even a decade old tree they can still get hit, but rough flakey bark never seems to get chewed on. I even lightly smeared tree tar on the base and tossed sand onto it and that seemed to work in the end the easiest long term method is the window screen. But where the mice and rabbits end the bucks take over.

 

[homerj1]

Keep in mind there are different kinds of voles. Some do damage above ground. Some do damage below ground. Rough bark generally keeps above ground damage to a minimum.

 

[cavey]

Keep in mind there are different kinds of voles. Some do damage above ground. Some do damage below ground. Rough bark generally keeps above ground damage to a minimum.

Another good point..... I have gone back to not overly amending the soil ( if at all) that I put back in the hole I dug for the tree. I used to dump a bunch of enriched soil back in - on my clay ground thinking I was doing my trees a favor. Instead I made a salad bowel for the below ground voles to tunnel around in. I lost a handful of trees over the years to them and I believe its was simply a case of to much of a good thing that the trees didnt really need.

 

[White Oak]

What Chummer said seems to be the key....

If the bark is smooth - even a decade old tree they can still get hit, but rough flakey bark never seems to get chewed on. I even lightly smeared tree tar on the base and tossed sand onto it and that seemed to work in the end the easiest long term method is the window screen. But where the mice and rabbits end the bucks take over.

Hey Chummer....what type of window screen do you recommend ?. Fiberglass type or metal ?. I've used hardware cloth before....but I'm thinking of trying something a little softer this year , like window screen . Do you staple it together ? thanks for any info

 

[Catscratch]

Hey Chummer....what type of window screen do you recommend ?. Fiberglass type or metal ?. I've used hardware cloth before....but I'm thinking of trying something a little softer this year , like window screen . Do you staple it together ? thanks for any info

I use aluminum screen and either fold it together, or staple it. Either way has worked well.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[White Oak]

I use aluminum screen and either fold it together, or staple it. Either way has worked well.

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Thanks !

 

[cavey]

Only use the metal screen the fiberglass stuff would get chewed through pretty easily.