Caging Trees in a 2022 Economy

[S.T.Fanatic]

I just scored a bunch of cage fence the other day. Some people bought my grandparents place a few years ago. They put up a fence for all their dogs (that ended up destroying the house) New owner bought the place and tore all the fence down. I caught her out in the yard the other day mowing lawn so i stopped to inquire about the fence. She said I was the 5-6th person to ask about it but nobody has stopped to get it. She said first come first serve. I happily loaded it all up and got it out of their way.

 

[TheGroveEstate]

Highway block is coming along… the weed barrier helped me get through the drought in May and again here mid-August through mid-September with its moisture retaining qualities. Seeing impressive growth. Worth mentioning; with the remesh cages I used, I can reach in and pull rogue weeds out from around the trunks (where the weed barrier has a 6” hole in it). Only had to pull 4 cages this summer to straighten young trees, took 1 minute to remove and 1 minute to reset with the single rebar post & rebar ties I used.

I would recommend this to anyone looking for years worth of protection for evergreens. My cages are 4’ in diameter for reference.

 

[BuckSutherland]

I have several hundred trees in tubes or cages with weed matting and mulch. This one is one of my favorite. I planted 15 two gallon white cedar pots in the spring of 2021. We went through extreme drought in 2021, and we are in extreme drought again in 2023. i haven't watered since 2021. This angry sucker is about 7 feet tall and quadrupled in size since I planted it 29 months ago. Its planted on some of the highest elevation on my property. I will have some of the best bedrooms in Cass county 10+ years from now. I'm super impressed at my white cedar growth. Much better out of the gate than spruce on my land and really good drought tolerance. I've pulled a few for transplant. The root structures are phenomenal. I love the smell of cedar. I had one tree 4 years ago. Now I have 61. Zero have died. Planting 20 more next year.

 

[Foggy47]

^ Are you digging all those holes with a shovel?

 

[BuckSutherland]

^ Are you digging all those holes with a shovel?

Yes. Every last hole. I plan to plant 80-100 pampered trees next year and 200-300 spruce transplants that I rip out of the road ditch. I know I can do 200 of the spruce in a day. I've done it before. Would be nice if it would rain one of these years so the mortality would go down.

 

[sandbur]

Yes. Every last hole. I plan to plant 80-100 pampered trees next year and 200-300 spruce transplants that I rip out of the road ditch. I know I can do 200 of the spruce in a day. I've done it before. Would be nice if it would rain one of these years so the mortality would go down.

About 50 plus years ago, a young fella pulled cedars out of a Cass County ditch and planted them along the lake edge. A piece of the root extended down to the spring water table. You should see those trees now!

 

[BuckSutherland]

About 50 plus years ago, a young fella pulled cedars out of a Cass County ditch and planted them along the lake edge. A piece of the root extended down to the spring water table. You should see those trees now!

My bday is Sept 2. For my bday this year my daughter came into the brutal heat with me to work on on the trees. I only have limited time to work on them so I usually work no matter what the weather is doing. She worked alongside me for about 7-8 hours one day and did not complain once. My hope would be that they are her trees 50 years from now and she's telling stories to her grandkids.....



She can correctly identify a lot of trees in the woods already. I bought her a permanent marker to write on the tubes and a paint brush to paint fruit tree trunks. We spray painted some oak trees orange and marked other trees with pink paint that we wanna cut down this winter. Did not complain once the entire time. I made it as interesting for her as I could. Wonderful day even if it felt like 100+.

 

[OakSeeds]

Those smiles and the grin on her face in the 2nd photo says it all; you are building the foundation for a wonderful lifelong relationship with her. Well done Mr. Buck, well done!

 

[sandbur]

My bday is Sept 2. For my bday this year my daughter came into the brutal heat with me to work on on the trees. I only have limited time to work on them so I usually work no matter what the weather is doing. She worked alongside me for about 7-8 hours one day and did not complain once. My hope would be that they are her trees 50 years from now and she's telling stories to her grandkids.....



She can correctly identify a lot of trees in the woods already. I bought her a permanent marker to write on the tubes and a paint brush to paint fruit tree trunks. We spray painted some oak trees orange and marked other trees with pink paint that we wanna cut down this winter. Did not complain once the entire time. I made it as interesting for her as I could. Wonderful day even if it felt like 100+.



View attachment 57278View attachment 57279View attachment 57280View attachment 57281View attachment 57282View attachment 57283View attachment 57284

Great job by both of you!

 

[buckdeer1]

Have you had any issues tubing fruit trees?I had problems with mold

 

[Knehrke]

I love cages, but as I've said many times, I think tubes are the devil's work. My mortality rate for pampered, seed-grown, carefully-transplanted-from-Rootmaker 3 gallon pots trees is stupid high. This includes many different types of trees and even shrubs. As one of the members on here knows, I gave away a roll-off worth of tubes a couple years ago from everything that failed. If I'm planting now, it's getting caged. Maybe it's just my properties, but I'd rather eat the expense now than watch everything go the way of the dodo over the next few years.

 

[Telemark]

I don't pamper anything. The most I will do for any cuttings or transplants is a year in a pot in the back yard so it can get some roots before I plant it out in its new home. If it needs a cage, it gets one, otherwise they are on their own.

Usually, if they are going to fail, they fail that first year. If that happens, I put something else in the pot, and I don't give it a second thought. The tough conditions tend to make for tough transplants that have a very high rate of success.