I need fruit tree advice

[BuckSutherland]

I have about 12 apple trees planted in my woods in 6 foot tubes from around 2012-2014. One of them has a few small green crabs on it again this year. Its time for me to give these things the premium treatment cause they have been severely neglected by me. I put some mulch on their weed mats last time up. I wanna cut these tubes down and get these trees caged and put rock around the base of them.


What is your best advice how to try and critter proof them??? We have quite a few bear in the area.

Do I need to paint the trunks if I cut the 6 foot tubes in half?? I would like to leave the lower half of the tube on the tree

I am thinking of caging with 5 foot cages. Unsure of the diameter??


I'm really good at growing oaks and conifers. I haven't spent to much time in the fruit department. I also have high bush cranberry in tubes, black cherry and maybe some service berry. I'm thinking when my brother planted some of those they should have been caged instead of tubed but we were rookies. If it wouldnt have been for those first 5 years of mistakes we wouldnt have learned anything.

 

[Prof.Kent]

Bears? Good luck.
I've posted these videos before, but some of your questions will be answered here.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Those trees look great!

As for bear, they are going to do what they want to do. Just dont get to attached to any of the apple trees. I hate bears!

 

[b116757]

I wouldn’t bother caging those there already tall enough to be out of browse danger just keep the tubes for rubbing protection. Fertilize them this winter or spring.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Looking at your pics, I'd cut down or spray the surrounding vegetation / trees / shrubs to get more sunlight on the trees and reduce nutrient competition. We've used aluminum window screen as tall as a typical snow depth for mouse / vole protection. We have bears all around our camp area, and we've used 5 ft. tall concrete re-mesh of about a 4 ft. diameter for cages. We stake them solidly in place to keep deer off the trees, and to act as a deterrent for smaller bears (which seem to want to climb more than big adult bears). It's worked pretty well for us - but as Prof. Kent and 4wanderingeyes said - good luck. Bears can get through any defense we might put up. All we can do is try to DETER them - having other food in the area will possibly give them easier pickings - and let your fruit trees alone until you can grow them big enough to survive damage if a bear tries to climb them.

 

[BuckSutherland]

If I cut the tubes down should I be painting the tree trunks with some type of paint??? They have been hiding in those tubes for 10 years and never really exposed to the sun. I like the window screen idea on the trunks. They need pruning this winter for sure.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I like the window screen idea on the trunks. They need pruning this winter for sure.

When we put aluminum window screen on our tree trunks, we followed the advice of some apple tree experts on here. We cut the screens so that when we wrapped them around the trunks, there'd be enough "slack" to allow several years of trunk expansion before needing to be replaced. We made the screens tall enough to cover any expected normal snow depth.

For a 3/4" dia. trunk when planted, I'd cut screen pieces about 15" long (off the roll - which was either 24" or 30" tall). I'd wrap the 15" dimension around the trunk, so I had roughly 7" left on either side of the trunk to staple together. Using regular "office" staples, I stapled the 2 sides together from top to bottom, with about 2" vertically between staples. Looking down from the top of the screens, they looked "tear-drop" in shape - allowing for trunk expansion and movement as the wind blows the trees. Then I stapled across the top & bottom of the screens so I could just get 1 finger inside the screens, between the trunks and the closest staple. That kept mice and voles from getting inside to chew the bark in winter and killing the trees. As the trunk grows & expands, the staples on the tops and bottoms of the screen wraps will rip out on their own usually, but you can help also by removing staples as needed, too. It's worked like a charm for us here.

Again - this is NOT my idea - but one I learned on here from guys more experienced growing apples and crabs. Their idea works. Hope this helps.

It probably won't hurt to paint the trunks with white latex paint to avoid "sunscald" and bark cracking that happens because of it. At least paint the south / southwest sides of the trunks. Most recipes say to mix white latex paint with about 1/3 to 1/2 water for use on the trunks.

 

[buckdeer1]

I didn't like tubing fruit trees as I got mold the first time I did so I caged everything.I like a big cage so usually around 10-12 ft of wire.

 

[Telemark]

Has anyone tried razor wire or concertina wire around their fruit trees?

 

[sandbur]

When we put aluminum window screen on our tree trunks, we followed the advice of some apple tree experts on here. We cut the screens so that when we wrapped them around the trunks, there'd be enough "slack" to allow several years of trunk expansion before needing to be replaced. We made the screens tall enough to cover any expected normal snow depth.

For a 3/4" dia. trunk when planted, I'd cut screen pieces about 15" long (off the roll - which was either 24" or 30" tall). I'd wrap the 15" dimension around the trunk, so I had roughly 7" left on either side of the trunk to staple together. Using regular "office" staples, I stapled the 2 sides together from top to bottom, with about 2" vertically between staples. Looking down from the top of the screens, they looked "tear-drop" in shape - allowing for trunk expansion and movement as the wind blows the trees. Then I stapled across the top & bottom of the screens so I could just get 1 finger inside the screens, between the trunks and the closest staple. That kept mice and voles from getting inside to chew the bark in winter and killing the trees. As the trunk grows & expands, the staples on the tops and bottoms of the screen wraps will rip out on their own usually, but you can help also by removing staples as needed, too. It's worked like a charm for us here.

Again - this is NOT my idea - but one I learned on here from guys more experienced growing apples and crabs. Their idea works. Hope this helps.

It probably won't hurt to paint the trunks with white latex paint to avoid "sunscald" and bark cracking that happens because of it. At least paint the south / southwest sides of the trunks. Most recipes say to mix white latex paint with about 1/3 to 1/2 water for use on the trunks.

Fold the screen so the excess layers are on the SW side if it is an exposed site for winter damage/ sunscauld.

 

[BuckSutherland]

Tell me if I made a mistake with my paint???



I trimmed down almost 30 tubes this past weekend. I was working with black cherry, choke cherry, and apple trees. I cut roughly 1/3 to 1/2 of the 6 foot tube off. After I removed the tube I painted the tree trunks with white latex paint (flat finish). I did not dilute it with water at all. 100% paint. These trees have been in tubes for 8-10+ years.




On the apples I put pea rock around the base, then some mulch and a 5 foot cage. I removed all competition within 5 feet of the tree. Sometime between winter and spring I hope to remove the rest of the tube and then figure out how to prune them.