Beneficial Wildlife Shrubs...
- Thread starter wiscwhip
- Start date
bueller
Moderator
The rubbing killed the tall stalks which were above browse level. Had it not been for the rubbing they would probably look like tall mushrooms which would have been better than what I have now, essentially stump sprouts.
I'll be planting some in the next year or so. I'll think about keeping a few of them "caged" with a rigid mesh tube type deal.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
On keeping things caged permanently - we have to do that at my camp because of bears. We have to stake the crap out of them, and we use 5 ft. concrete mesh. It works 85 - 90% on bears doing fatal damage to the trees. Deer should be no problem. Once the lowest limbs get above the cage top, ( training ) - the fruit still drops or the lowest limbs hang low enough for deer to reach apples / crabs. Mesh cages " disappear " into the background. Caging permanently should work fine for elderberry and some other shrubs as well. FWIW.
No bears here (well in my area). I'm planting them for browse and pollinators etc... so I'm fine if they get chewed up, I just don't want them to get killed. I figured I'd use a DIY rigid cage from 4 foot fencing, in a 2-3 foot diameter cage. It should protect the base and prevent complete annihilation , but I'm fine with them getting a foot or so of browse.
bueller
Moderator
I have used 4 and 5 foot tall welded wire cages on my elderberries. I won't use 4ft anymore because the deer reach over and grab the tall stalks snapping them over the top of the cage. They don't do this with the 5ft cages. They do readily browse any branches that stick out the sides of the cage and I'm good with that. The tops are full of flowers and berries. Hopefully the birds are planting some of those seeds in nearby brush piles and thickets.
West Branch
5 year old buck +
Thanks for posting that! I can pick out 6 of the 13 as being fairly common on our place. Hazelnut, highbush cranberry, red-osier dogwood, american plum, red raspberry and blueberry. Maybe we have the others. Gotta work on my ID skills and try to get more of the ones we don't have.
West Branch
5 year old buck +
Has anyone grown a hawthorn from seed? We have one or two in the windbreak at the farm that seem to have some fruit every year. I would like to get some thickets of those going for grouse.
Chokecherry is another one that we have on fence lines and other random spots that seems like a good wildlife shrub.
Chokecherry is another one that we have on fence lines and other random spots that seems like a good wildlife shrub.
I may have to try and find some 5 foot. I use concrete wire mesh for my apple and pear trees, but working it into a small diameter cage will be tough, so I'll try to get the welded wire.
I've never grown hawthorn from seed, but I am thinking about doing it next year. The hardest part would be the pretreatment of the seeds. In doing ninebark, sumac, and alder from seed, I've found that the hardest part is keeping any mold from getting to the seeds. For me, using silica sand has been the most successful media in which to stratify them. Once germination starts, the hardest thing to do is keep them adequately watered, which isn't too bad.