Black hills spruce
- Thread starter ncstewart
- Start date
Yep, I get trees every year from them. Always been happy with everything. Norway's, plum, crabapples, high bush cranberry, swamp oak it's all been good.
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
I planted ten 2 gallon BHS pots last spring. I intentionally did not cage them. They all looking great coming out of winter and so far the deer have not browsed them at all. However, I saw new browsing on some white spruce and balsam firs on my property. I also do not notice any winter burn on the BHS. They all get great sun and went through one hell of a drought last summer.... Hopefully they continue to impress going forward. These trees all have 4x4 weed mat installed under them and some woods material recycled for mulch.
tlzkaasen
5 year old buck +
These BHS were planted summer as well (2 gallon ? I don't remember). Endured a bitter cold winter in Northern WI - my lake is still frozen! So far so good - no browse, no rub (yet). I planted 25 White Spruce at the same time - 1 leader was eaten. 12 Eastern Red ceder - They ended up deer candy...live and learn. I had a Doe family group of 4-6 that all lived within 100 yards from where all of these were planted. By the way these BHS we're all 9.99 from Cosco last summer. I'll clean them out if they have the again. I might try to add some colorado Blue this year for additional color in the woods.
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
So is anyone finding it necessary to cage their BHS? With the cost of fencing, if I can get by without, I would like too. I have about 300 trees coming next week, and I have enough cages for about 1/3 of them.
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Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
yes, while not heavy browse, they do get it from the deer.
Brian662
5 year old buck +
I think you'll want the top of the tree sticking above a 4' cage before you remove the cage, in my opinion.
I bought 1,800 ft of 4' welded wire from tractor supply this spring for caging trees/shrubs. My guess is most shrubs will need 2-3 years and the trees will need 4-5 years.
I bought 1,800 ft of 4' welded wire from tractor supply this spring for caging trees/shrubs. My guess is most shrubs will need 2-3 years and the trees will need 4-5 years.
bwoods11
5 year old buck +
Ok agree … how many actual feet per tree ? I’m trying to do the math before I leave ? 40 trees total .
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
I think its gonna be site and tree size dependent.... I'm guessing if Bwoods left his uncaged in Iowa they would be more likely to be thrashed, eaten, and torn apart. Northern MN or WI might be a little different story. Conifers dont stick out lick a turd in a punchbowl like they would in Iowa. They are much more common in our part of the world. There are better naturally occurring species to browse on. I would say the smaller the planting the higher chance of being messed with. They haven't touched my 2 gallon pots from last year. Been in the ground about a year now, but we dont have loads of deer. Deer seem to leave BHS alone in road screens where I live west of the ghetto too.
To answer your question I'm not finding it necessary to cage BHS on my land in northern MN. Perhaps some day that will change, but not now. I envision your woods being similar to mine.
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
Use a board (10' 2x4) for a "ruler" and cut the cage with a hand held snips. I cut 100' rolls in 10 equal size cages. Dont mess around with a tape measure, they are a time consuming pain in the ass. You are left with approximately 36-38" wide cage.
Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
Speaking from experience, the max diameter you will really need is 2.5'. I actually use 2' on many of the conifers I plant. Once the tree grows above the 4' height, I usually let the tree get to 8'-10', you can release the tie that holds the fence close and let the tree & cage grow, & expand together.
Before removing the fence, I want the conifer to be 10' or taller with a good diameter greater 4'-5' to keep the bucks from getting their antlers to the trunk.
To calculate the length of fence to achieve a diameter is: (π x 2Radius) or 3.14 x diameter, so...
2' diameter = 6.25' cut
2.5' diameter = 7.8'
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
The heavy snow laid a few of my trees over. Had a couple white pines get browsed cause the leader got pushed outside my cage. Had a few other outer branches on some taller white pines get browsed above the cage too. I wouldn't want to go smaller then a 10' cage for a white pine or a cedar, but I think spruce and fir you would be just fine going smaller.
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
This crew has been operating in this ancient alfalfa field across the road from my woods day and night. They recently came back from the winter yards and will now spend the next 7-9 months browsing in the surrounding woods, including mine. They have now browsed on 5 of the 10 black spruce I planted last winter. I'm likely to do some bud capping again next winter. Seems my biggest loss to browsing come in the spring after the snow melts. The browsing is not severe at all. Just need to protect the terminal bud.....
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
I think if my trees were smaller they would have been browsed even more. I'm thinking I would be 100% fine just by bud capping them.
