Caging Trees in a 2022 Economy

[H20fwler]

I have definitely scaled back and cheapened up on caging new fruit trees this year.

Before this economy I almost always went with the concrete remesh. Planted a little over 70 fruit trees this spring between the two farms...I went with 5' 2"X4" mesh fence rolls and used 4' tall farm fence.
The farm fence was the best deal, 330' roll for a little over $230. Also made cages smaller this year maybe half the size that I used too, and used one electric fence post for support on them.
Still use aluminum screen up the first two feet or more, I use whatever mulch is cheapest at Walmart around trees 3"-6" deep for moisture retention and weed suppression. (voles are not an issue here burrowing in").
I did not fertilize anything this year.

 

[TreeDaddy]

I've used everything I think over the past 28 years here including chicken wire, 4' high welded wire as well as 5' and 6' welded wire for cages. I don't cage conifers - although at one time if we wanted a naturally seeded White Pine to survive we did have to cage if for 2-3 years. Now, with a more normal deer density it isn't necessary.

Here is my take on it. I will never use chicken wire again for cages. Those that I still have out there on some young crabapples will be scrapped wihen I step up to 4' or 5' welded wire 2x4 cages.

I will never buy 4' high welded wire again either. It can be somewhat successful if you make it wide enough but I prefer to have them a little narrower. I can get double the number of cages from 5' high wire than I can get from 4' high because I don't have to make them as wide.

I am still using 6' high 2x4 welded wire for cages that I originally purchased in 1995 and I will continue to reuse it, but I won't purchase any more.

I have decided that for what I am doing, 5' high welded wire is the ideal size. I just purchased 2 more 50' rolls of it today to cage some Red Osier Dogwoods that are coming out of the tops of the tubes. If I simply remove the tubes and leave them on their own the deer will devastate them. If I cage them for a few years the deer can still browse around the outside of the cages every year but they won't kill the plants.

I have used lots of T-Posts and rebar in the past and I still reuse those as well but for the past several years all I have purchased is 10' sections of 1/2" EMT conduit and cut them in half.

I initially used 20' of 6' welded wire for each individual apple tree so I still use those for new apple trees I plant (although I am about done planting new apple trees).

These days I am using cages for oak trees I start from acorns - once they come out of the tubes, a couple dozen ROD, and crabapples - some of which I started from seed and some seedlings which I purchased.

Yes - there is more than one way to skin a cat, and yes, caging trees is "high maintenance" but in some cases it is necessary. For example, we named our farm "Lone Oak" as there was only a single Northern Red Oak on the entire 160 acres when we purchased it. I have planted several hundred oaks since then and while I am just beginning to get acorns from trees I have planted, some day, somewhere down the line, somebody is going to really appreciate what I have done by planting them now. That is what keeps me doing the things I do. Trying to be a good steward of the land and leave it in better condition than it was when I acquired it.

For oaks I almost always start out with acorns - this is the cheapest part of growing an oak tree LOL
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Sometimes I direct seed the acorns in their permanent locations but I also start acorns in Rootmaker Express cells
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at the end of summer if I haven't planted them in their permanent locations they will go in one of the raised boxes in my wife's garden for the winter and are then transplanted in spring
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They are tubed as soon as they are planted but eventually they will grow out of the 4' tubes. If I had it to do over I would have purchased all 5' tubes.
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I leave them in the tubes for another couple of years even after I cage them as they are too wimpy to stand on their own. The tubes need to be removed each spring in order to clean out the fallen leaves and to remove the lower branches. I keep trimming the branches until the lowest branch is above the tube.
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When they can stand on their own and the lower branches are well above ground level the cages can be removed and reused on another tree
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10' lengths of 1/2" EMT Conduit - cut in half gives me 5' stakes
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More of the 6' welded wire which has been reused and repurposed since 1995. For oaks and shrubs I cut the wire to a little over 6' lengths and wire it together to give me about 2' diameter cages. I get 8 cages from a 50' roll of wire.
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Uncaged trees like this would be browsed to the top of the tube and never grow any higher.
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More of the old 6' high cages being used on yet another apple tree...


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Tubing and caging trees is expensive and labor intensive until the tree is big enough to make it on its own but it has to be done. If there is any saving grace is that if you do only what you can handle each year, you can reuse the tubes, fencing and stakes many times over.

Lotta great pearls^^^^^

Fortunately, I have accumulated enough material( wire,T posts,etc) due to tree attrition and removal from mature trees to protect this years baby trees

bill

 

[Wild Thing]

Lotta great pearls^^^^^

Fortunately, I have accumulated enough material( wire,T posts,etc) due to tree attrition and removal from mature trees to protect this years baby trees

bill

Yes - No question about it, reusing cages, stakes, etc does make it more affordable over the years. I wouldn't want to start out buying everything for 100-200 trees all at one time.

 

[TreeDaddy]

Wow! Sounds like you have a great plan for managing native habitat SD. I really need to step up my game in that area. Looks like I could use a few tips from you.

Re read the last sentence of Post # 7

Caveat emptor for us all

bill

 

[Tree Spud]

Looking for advice on best practices when it comes to caging trees for protection, in the current inflated economy where 150' rolls of remesh wire are going for $230-$280 a piece.
- Diameter; small enough to yield high cage counts per roll, while not screwing yourself for future growth of the tree
- Height; 5' standard? 4' could save $$ but is it worth the risk?
- Anchoring; T-posts, rebar, pipe, zip-ties, tie wire, copper, etc....
- Weed Control; Weed mat vs. no weed mat + spraying herbicide?
- Mulch vs. bare earth?
- 2" x 4" 14 gauge welded wire vs. 10 gauge remesh wire?

There is a lot of information scattered throughout random threads, but I thought one dedicated thread would be helpful. Thanks!

Whatever short cuts you take will cost you in the long run.

Deer can reach over a 4' cage and chomp the main leader and lateral branches. I cage my 1st year apple trees with 5' high, 14 gauge 2'x4" welded wire. I cut the cages 7-8' long so I get a cage that is 2'-2.5' in diameter. That will give me about 12-14 cages out of a 100' roll. I then use round steel fence posts to secure, they are about $2 apiece.

I will remove the welded wire and replace with 4'-5' diameter remesh cages as the trees grow. the higher you prune and start your laterals the smaller diameter fence you can go with. I have 4 - 150' rolls that I have to cut up this summer. You can then create a rotation where the welded wire cages you take off can be re-used on your next trees.

You can pass on weed mat and just spray periodically. Throwing some mulch or gravel on the tabbed edges holds the screen in place.

I would not pass on screening the tree base. Nothing more frustrating than losing a tree from rodents girdling them.

 

[Wild Thing]

Re read the last sentence of Post # 7

Caveat emptor for us all

bill

Ha Ha - Yep I read that too.

 

[Wild Thing]

Whatever short cuts you take will cost you in the long run.

Deer can reach over a 4' cage and chomp the main leader and lateral branches. I cage my 1st year apple trees with 5' high, 14 gauge 2'x4" welded wire. I cut the cages 7-8' long so I get a cage that is 2'-2.5' in diameter. That will give me about 12-14 cages out of a 100' roll. I then use round steel fence posts to secure, they are about $2 apiece.

I will remove the welded wire and replace with 4'-5' diameter remesh cages as the trees grow. the higher you prune and start your laterals the smaller diameter fence you can go with. I have 4 - 150' rolls that I have to cut up this summer. You can then create a rotation where the welded wire cages you take off can be re-used on your next trees.

You can pass on weed mat and just spray periodically. Throwing some mulch or gravel on the tabbed edges holds the screen in place.

I would not pass on screening the tree base. Nothing more frustrating than losing a tree from rodents girdling them.

This - exactly.

 

[rocksnstumps]

^^^^ good advice about using 2 x 4 welded wire for fencing instead of remesh with the bigger openings when trying squeeze a few more cages from a roll and diameters get to be 3 ft or less. Young deer can poke heads thru small dia remesh cages and munch stuff at whatever height they want, like cage is not there. Had to start using tubes inside some of my remesh cages with this problem.

To SD,
Just a reminder that everyone's palete is different and it will be several lifetimes before one can just release the "good native stuff" on my land. Decades of former owners running cows thru the woods followed by deer numbers way higher than yours has altered the landscape for awhile. Man's impact has changed many areas of the country more so than where you are at. That's why many of us have to plant stuff to get the process rebooted. Of course nature can do it on it's own but that takes more time than we have left

 

[SD51555]

Sounds like you are doing a great job SD - and you've given me some ideas for things I can do on my property.

What state are you from? I am in Upper Michigan. Snow can get pretty deep in winter but I could do a lot of those things in spring.

I'm in northern MN. I went out a took a bunch of pics of the feature. I even crawled around in it. There's way more out there than I originally thought. I'll post them up with some dialogue when I get time. For now, I've got a mountain of chores to go get done.

Snow gets deep here too. That's why I go the morning after rifle closes. Sometimes I can get a month to work on it, sometimes, I get a week and then it's suddenly buried in 2' of snow.

 

[Foggy47]

I've got about 10 apple trees that I caged when small. They are now all either dead or pretty large. I'd be willing to part with the 2x4 wire if you come after it.....do the work.....pull those posts (which I want to keep). I think my wire is 5 feet high? I'd have to measure. Most of the cages are about 6 feet diameter. I would firm up sizes and quantity.....if someone is in the Nisswa area and wants the wire cages.

 

[Ed Brodt]

Pallets screwed together at top corners. Easy to take apart and mulch down or weed cloth. These were pear trees planted in 2018. All survived and are bearing fruit this year. Pallets are free around here so all you have invested is some labor and screws.

 

[Mortenson]

I'll be going the old woven wire route. Time to go ditch diving.

 

[b116757]

Pallets screwed together at top corners. Easy to take apart and mulch down or weed cloth. These were pear trees planted in 2018. All survived and are bearing fruit this year. Pallets are free around here so all you have invested is some labor and screws.

That’s a great idea for a cheap option.

 

[TheGroveEstate]

For more context to my initial post question; I planted 200 green giant trees (Thuja standishii x plicata) for screening purposes last year. 2 separate runs - both double wide, staggered @ 12' spacing in between the trees, and 8' spacing between the 2 rows. I did not protect them from deer, as deer typically do not browse green giants, they may nibble on them slightly which usually never affects the growth, but it never crossed my mind to protect against buck rubs...and then Fall came...and then I felt defeated by nature. I lost about 50 trees to buck rubs. I'm not making the same mistake this year and plan on caging all that remain before the end of August 2022. So unfortunately I MUST purchase all the products at once.

I have many other prized ornamental evergreens and deciduous trees that I fully protect through rut season, and all the 2x4 (5' tall) 14 gauge wire cages I own are slated for those trees come Fall.

Even though it will be expensive, I believe 10 gauge wire remesh will be my best choice, as it is more sturdy, holds its shape with one post, and will last for many years. I'm not worried about deer sticking their heads in the larger openings, since they do not prefer to browse GG's (as stated). Once these green giants hit 6-7' tall (which should only take 4 years), they are no longer a worry for rubs. The bucks cannot get their heads close enough to the central leader to cause damage. It's almost like they just give up once they get taller and wider. I have 15 GG's that are 7-8' tall, about 4' diameter and they haven't been messed with. I'm leaning towards 4' diameter cages instead of 3' so that I can gain more girth before I remove the cages for good and save to repurpose.

I'm torn on whether or not to use weed mat, even though I see the advantage. I haven't noticed much mice/vole activity in my fields (which is a plus from what I've read), that could be attributed to our resident foxes or the random black snakes we have. I may try weed mat just to help keep things more tidy and knock out competition. I mow regularly between & around the tree runs but cannot get close enough to keep the weeds at bay. If anything it slows me down on the SCAG and time is something I do not have a lot of anymore (work, wife, kids).

This is a good thread - Appreciate all the advice guys!

 

[buckdeer1]

I use the 4ft 2x4 and just raise it a foot or two if need the height.Only use fence on fruit trees or chestnuts,I use tubes on everything else.After too big for tubes I out a small diameter cage to keep bucks from rubbing

 

[Teeder]

Re read the last sentence of Post # 7

Caveat emptor for us all

bill

I agree for the most part, but there is a catch. On my land, beech are supposed to be there but they are all dying, same with the ash. The hemlock is threatened. I only have a couple red oak. I am releasing the few I have and tubing the new ones that are coming up, but i am planting different oaks, that "aren't supposed" to be there in an attempt to add diversity. It seems like only the trees that have little to no wildlife value are the only ones that aren't being attacked.

 

[Wild Thing]

I've got a lot of seedling trees coming out of the tops of the tubes so I got busy and made some more cages out of 5' 2X4" welded wire. I cut the wire 6'4" long which gives me a cage of about 24" in diameter, except for the last one which comes out a little smaller. This gives me 8 cages from a 50' roll of welded wire.

I have been sliding the tubes up higher on the stake in order to protect the tops until I can get them caged but I am only using 5' EMT conduit for stakes and I can't get the tops of the tubes up much over 5' so I either have to cage them or get longer stakes so I can slide the tubes up higher. Like I mentioned before...I wish I had purchased 5' tubes instead of 4'.

I caged a few Hazelnuts that have been in tubes since I planted them 3-4 years ago. I know...they have been neglected. I should have taken them out of the tubes and caged them probably at 2 years. The deer browed the tops but some of them are still going. I am still not sure if I should try to grow the hazelnuts as a tree or a shrub?? I think I will buy some more next year and just cage them rather than tubing them. Any suggestions on Hazelnuts are appreciated...


I put the narrow tube from the end of the roll on this hazelnut.


This is a good illustration of why I won't buy chicken wire any more. I used 3' chicken wire on some crabapple seedlings, thinking I could just slide the wire up as the trees grew but the deer never gave them a chance to grow much...


Here is a crabapple planted the same day but which was caged with a 4' cage. 4' still isn't high enough but even though the deer browsed them quite a bit, most of them in the 4' cages did manage to eventually grow above browse level. I will reuse the few 4' cages I have but I won't buy any more of them either.


Looking down the line of crabapples you can see that those in the 3' chicken wire never amounted to anything but the tree in the 4' cage did manage to get above browse level...


This is a wild crabapple which I started from seed 2 years ago. I found the tree on my property 14 years after I purchased the property. It grows very big fruit so I want to propagate it elsewhere around my property. I am grafting scions from it onto other trees but I wanted to see if I can clone the mother tree also (I know the chances are probably slim), so I collected some seed from the crabapples and started them in the man cave in the barn the following winter. I planted them in one of my wife's raised garden boxes over winter and then transplanted them in their permanent locations last spring. This spring I trimmed most of the lower branches and they have just shot up since then. I pulled the tubes and removed more of the lower branches and started caging them the other day. Hard to believe these things have gone from a seed to over 5' tall in a little over 2 years.


Another crabapple started from seed. You can see where I have raised up this tube to the top of my 5' stake so I can't get it any higher.


Anyway, I made some more 5' cages and started getting them protected...


I have 200' more of the 5' welded wire and about 200' of some old 6' welded wire which I will be making more cages from this week. I can work fairly comfortably in my insulated barn when the temps are in the high 80's and 90' this week. These are the size of the cages I get from a 76' length of wire.

 

[Wild Thing]

I agree for the most part, but there is a catch. On my land, beech are supposed to be there but they are all dying, same with the ash. The hemlock is threatened. I only have a couple red oak. I am releasing the few I have and tubing the new ones that are coming up, but i am planting different oaks, that "aren't supposed" to be there in an attempt to add diversity. It seems like only the trees that have little to no wildlife value are the only ones that aren't being attacked.

I am with you Teeder. We still have some beech and ash but I know their days are numbered. We named our camp/property "Lone Oak" for a reason also - there was only a single Northern Red Oak on the entire 160 acres when we purchased our property.





I have planted hundreds of oaks here now - mostly from acorns.




It is a lot of work getting them from an acorn to an oak tree that produces acorns...


but with some work and patience you eventually get there...


I have also planted several different varieties - I can't even remember all of what I have planted, but agree that variety is "the spice of life".

 

[Teeder]

Beautiful!

 

[Telemark]

Luckily i bought three rolls when they cost $75 each. Turns out I need them with the bear and deer activity here. I just hope tree prices aren't too bad next year.