The horror!

[Red]

I had 53 grafts (1and 2 year old) over wintering in the garden. I checked them yesterday and every single one has been girdled up about 12". I thought the fence was rabbit proof but evidence would prove otherwise. Within the last 2 weeks they have found a way in and feasted.
I had about 20 different varieties. Some of the scion wood came from you guys. Just sucks to be set back 2 years. Damn.
Looks like I'll be needing to prowel the scion trading thread and put together a last minute plan for this year. I wasn't planning on grafting this spring.

 

[CrazyEd]

Sorry to hear. If you are looking for scion wood let me know. I have quite a bit.

 

[greyphase]

Damn, that a hard learned lesson. Some of us are scion wood junkies and always cut more than we can use. Let us know what your looking for and I'll help if I can.

 

[chummer]

That sucks. Could have been voles to. I lost half my trees this winter I had in root trapper bags. They climbed up in the bags and girdled the trees and even dug down and ate the roots. I was left with unattached, barkless sticks. If yours were girdled 12" above the graft I would cut then below the girdle. You may get lucky and have them push up new growth. I had a 4-5 year old tree in my yard girdled 12" up. I cut it off just above the graft, two years later and I have a 5' tree again.

 

[SD51555]

That happened to the first apple I ever planted. I had 1/2 wire mesh around the bottom 12". The snow drifted above that and the critters walked right across the top of the snow and ate it. That 0-12" at the base was enough that it sent up a new sprout and survived. Set it back a couple years, but it wasn't the end.

 

[Apple Junkie]

Ouch! It's a lot of hard work, not to mention time, down the drain. Or in this case, the gullet of some pesky critter. Luckily, you'll find some generous folks here.

 

[Turkey Creek]

I thought I had beat the rabbits the first year I grafted anything, then after the snow thawed I realized I was wrong! Now it is open season year round on rabbits anywhere around trees I am growing.

 

[chickenlittle]

I got some rabbit damage in my nursery back in December. Luckily I caught it quickly. I don't think I lost any grafts but I did have some seedlings chewed off at the snow line. I hope they'll bounce back.

You think you have it protected good enough but the buggers will surprise you.

 

[buckvelvet]

Oh my, thats night marrish!

 

[Red]

Hey, thanks for the encouraging words.
I was too mad at the time to even think of the rootstocks pushing up new growth. Maybe it won't be a complete loss.
If I cut scion wood from the tops, do you think it would still be good or do you think it would dry out and die quickly. It's been hovering around the 20-40 degree range.

 

[chickenlittle]

Red,

Your tops should be good for scionwood except right above the girdle. If it is green when you scrape the bark, you are good to go. Obviously you need to buy rootstock now which is a little late depending on what you want to get.

Lots of options to make lemonade from your girdled trees depending on your setup and how many trees you want now and in the future.

One option would be to cut them off below the girdle and then select a single sprout while keeping the rest pruned off. That sprout should be big enough by August that you could T-bud it if you can get budwood. Cut the rootstock off above the T-bud next year and it will grow vigorously. You'll have a bigger tree than if you wait and field graft scionwood onto next spring. For whatever you can't get budwood, regraft next spring after it leafs out with a cleft or whip&tongue graft.

Another option would be to create some stoolbeds. Cut your tree off at ground level and add sawdust as the sprouts grow up to 8" or so. The sprouts will root and then you can pull back the sawdust and cut off the rootstocks next spring. You might have 2 or 3 rootstocks off each one and more if you did it again the next year. If any of those sprouts grow big enough, you could T-bud them in August and have them already grafted and ready for the nursery next spring.

 

[Neahawg]

Looks like burnt ridge nursery still has b118, m111, and anatovonka rootstock

 

[John-W-WI]

I liked your post... but don't like it. Little fuzzy buggers.

 

[Corey Peterson]

I too had had some mice or vole damage this year. looks like I'll loose one tree and I have a few in the nursery with damage. Time to set some traps and kill the little sob's.