Caged vs uncaged juneberry

[Jimmy G]

So I'm 2 years into my windbreak planting and the first year I planted hazelnuts,American plums and juneberry bare root plants from the county. This spring I decided to start caging them. Now, I have over 100 plants so it gets kind of costly...but the difference is undeniable. Most of the uncaged plants you can barely see where they are getting browsed. But it doesn't take much to knock them back.

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[trampledbyturtles]

Quite the difference, id be looking for any old farmsites or an newly updated ones. Alot of fence has been ripped out of the ground in recent years. Should be able to score some old woven wire for free. Most of it is only 4ft but should be more than adequate for cages. Was able to acquire about 500ft this spring myself. An I only cherry picked. Found another pile here just the other day.

 

[j-bird]

With that sort of difference I think I would look into means to fence everything! Not individually...too expensive and time consuming. I would look into putting in T posts and running snow fence or something to keep the deer off them. I may not look the best, but you have to give those plants a chance or the deer never will.

 

[Tree Spud]

Here is a 3rd year Chokecherry. Planted 25 like this. Before they were either browsed to the ground our smothered by grass & weeds.

We now try and cage the majority of what we plant. I would rather plant & cage 25 than plant 200 unprotected.

Cages for 4' fence run about $3.60 each but they can be re-used for a long time. Have 350 trees, shrubs, & pines now caged.

 

[Jimmy G]

My previous house I had planted 25 chokecherries also and had the same heavy browse pressure. Funny thing was I for the longest time had no clue why they struggled so bad.....I feel like an idiot now..if I would of caged just one back then I could of figured it out, but I had no clue about caging till I got on HT.
For a week or so last year i watched a certain doe and fawns come into my clover plot by the house around dusk. Each time as the doe was leaving she took just one nip at one of my thornless cockspur hawthorns, not much more than a taste. And you realize that if a deer walks by a plant just about everyday, it may eventually take a taste of it...and if it bites the "leader" then it will stunt it.

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[Tree Spud]

My previous house I had planted 25 chokecherries also and had the same heavy browse pressure. Funny thing was I for the longest time had no clue why they struggled so bad.....I feel like an idiot now..if I would of caged just one back then I could of figured it out, but I had no clue about caging till I got on HT.
For a week or so last year i watched a certain doe and fawns come into my clover plot by the house around dusk. Each time as the doe was leaving she took just one nip at one of my thornless cockspur hawthorns, not much more than a taste. And you realize that if a deer walks by a plant just about everyday, it may eventually take a taste of it...and if it bites the "leader" then it will stunt it.

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Not really, you are just learning through trial & error like many of us.

The browsing is probably more prevalent in the winter time as there is less green stuff and food. The deer will browse the small shrubs down to the snow line, then in spring new shoots will emerge. After 3 years of seeing the same new growth and no increase in height, you begin to figure out what is happening after you have caged a few.

 

[MojoRisin]

I have some highbush cranberry that were planted as seedlings last year. They are growing better this year than last. They are caged. How many years do you guys leave these bushes/shrubs caged? Tree Spud, how much bigger would you want that chokecherry before you uncage it?

 

[sagittarius]

How many years do you guys leave these bushes/shrubs caged?

Until they can handle the browse pressure. With trees its when it might handle the antler rubbing. It kinda hurts when you take care of a tree for 8 years, remove the cage, then a deer antler rubs it and kills it .... or it resprouts below the rub. So the risk is up to you knowing your specific deer pressure.

 

[j-bird]

I agree with caging things and working slowly if that is what is needed. I know of some places whee you can do significantly large mass planting s and get away with it. But in areas of high deer densities.....even several hundred can be easily handled by deer. Even if they don't kill them, how much time is lost? Even on my place with few deer I only leave things unprotected I can afford (and expect) to be lost.

 

[MojoRisin]

Until they can handle the browse pressure. With trees its when it might handle the antler rubbing. It kinda hurts when you take care of a tree for 8 years, remove the cage, then a deer antler rubs it and kills it .... or it resprouts below the rub. So the risk is up to you knowing your specific deer pressure.

Is there some kind of general guideline to know when a shrub can handle the browse pressure? Do they need to over a certain height of width? To me, the chokecherry Tree Spud has caged seems like it would be on the cusp of that but I really don't know. I plan to add a lot more shrubs to my land next year and will cage for sure.

 

[cavey]

Is there some kind of general guideline to know when a shrub can handle the browse pressure?

Bad thing is they can stand on their hind toes and reach up, so between that height and the bare soil is their browse range, thank God they cant fly...

Most of their brush browsing will be in their lazy range from mouth height to a 1' below that - they are samplers and love to just bite here and there and move on (except for your favorite little sapling which they will eat every last leaf off and kill the terminal bud)... I always figure that when Im standing next to a shrub - hold my arm straight out and swing it up and down that is most of the munch zone. There is no good answer except protect them as long as you can... and as most of us have found that may be till the point that you cant get the cage untangled and removed from around the shrub and also like mentioned above that is when they stop eating and switch over to rubbing your shrubs to death, I have found that If I leave a single t post in next to the trunk they dont tend to rub (not so close as to grow into the trunk and periodically moved so the roots dont entangle the post) - try and leave some lower branches on the taller shrubs that will help with them not rubbing. Healthy shrubs should be dense so that also helps....

As far as height, when they get above the normal browse line I start thinking of pulling the cage - mainly when I think the main trunk is strong enough to handle any pulling down from side browsing - they can easily snap the main trunk of your trees or shrubs by biting side branches/buds/leaves and pulling down as they eat.

You can always try and cheat the cage up a foot or better if you are using a post or two to hold the cage that will help if you have shorter cages - as long as you protect the terminal - leading buds

The other point is -- even in extremely low pressure deer areas -- it only takes one bite in the right spot to ruin a tree and the nicest shrubs are the best ones for that lone deer to rub on.......... and that we didnt even talk about mice and voles!

 

[j-bird]

I would consider NOT removing the cage period. Hear me out. My apple trees.....I only reduce the cage diameter once the trees lowest limb is roughly 5 feet off the ground. The cage remains - to protect the trunk from rubbing. For shrubs. You can shorten the cages and allow the deer to reach of the top or eat anything that grows beyond the cage, but I think you need to protect a "hub" of that shrub to ensure it survives. Your only other option is to simply have far more food than the deer can eat. That means planting more food, or having less deer....other wise the deer have 365 days a year to set that tree or shrub back and to keep it stunted.

 

[Tree Spud]

Is there some kind of general guideline to know when a shrub can handle the browse pressure? Do they need to over a certain height of width? To me, the chokecherry Tree Spud has caged seems like it would be on the cusp of that but I really don't know. I plan to add a lot more shrubs to my land next year and will cage for sure.

My goal is to get the shrub to 6' plus in height so that the upper stems are out of reach for normal browsing and multiple stems meaning good root system development. I also want good fruit production so the birds can start to disperse and start to see some natural regeneration. We collected a coffee can full this weekend and I will spread those to other areas.

I will start to untie the cage connectors so that as the shrub expands so will the cage. If a deer wants to browse they will; however, many of the the RDO thickets we have are browsed from the lower outside and the shrubs grow taller and survive. Generally deer only browse the new growth stems so getting them to this stage and taller is important.

 

[j-bird]

My goal is to get the shrub to 6' plus in height so that the upper stems are out of reach for normal browsing and multiple stems meaning good root system development. I also want good fruit production so the birds can start to disperse and start to see some natural regeneration. We collected a coffee can full this weekend and I will spread those to other areas.

I will start to untie the cage connectors so that as the shrub expands so will the cage. If a deer wants to browse they will; however, many of the the RDO thickets we have are browsed from the lower outside and the shrubs grow taller and survive. Generally deer only browse the new growth stems so getting them to this stage and taller is important.

I see that on my elderberry I have as well. Anything within reach is hammered, but once it gets tall enough it can support itself. Sure doesn't look like a shrub in many cases because of it however.