Protecting poplar/willow cuttings

[SWIFFY]

I have been trying to create some cover/edges to connect places on my property using some poplar and willow cuttings. They are cheap and easy to plant and grow incredibly fast. The problem in finding is the deer ate all the new growth before it was even 5-10" from the cutting.

So can anyone recommend a product, maybe some kind of tree tube for example, that is affordable but will protect my cuttings from the deer? I have learned the importance of caging my apple trees, crabs, pines, spruces, etc.... but I dont have the resources to cage 50-100 little cuttings.... whats another good option?

Thanks

 

[Troubles Trees]

Tree Tubes are anything but cheap unless you only have a few trees to protect. Don't get me wrong, they are worth their weight in gold if you have the gold. I use them as often as possible but I do consider them a "necessary evil" :) I got lucky on a FB habitat page and found a guy that ordered 1,000 and had 125'ish of them left over (if there is such a thing). Had to drive 8 hours round trip and although they were offered to me for free I made him take $50 (all I could spare at the time) to compensate his generosity.
A cheaper alternative might be plastic snow fencing if you only need to prevent deer browsing.

 

[SWIFFY]

Hmmm... snow fence. Thats not a bad idea... Thanks

 

[willy]

HOw long of line of trees are you putting these into. Where I wanted the willows and poplars for screens I had to fence them in. I used 5'concrete wire and did just shy of a hundred yards with 4' between the fence. If I wouldn't have done that, where they are they would have been mowed down. I know have 8 to 18' trees in two years. The soil quality was the limiting factor for how fast they grew. The concrete wire rolls are 150'. It took a few but I wanted to plant once and be done. I will remove the wire in another year and use for more fruit trees or deer movement influencing. I used t posts i got on craigslist. Three years you'll have a trees if you take care of weed competition.

As cheap as tubes as 5 cost from 15 to twenty five depending on height of tube and then you have stakes.

 

[SWIFFY]

Good idea as well willy, thanks

How old/tall does it seem i need to get these things before the deer damage isnt as much of a worry?

 

[Bill]

Good idea as well willy, thanks

How old/tall does it seem i need to get these things before the deer damage isnt as much of a worry?

Above browse height. Then the tree will grow with little or no lower branches.

Mesh tree tubes also work. The deer nip what pokes out but the trees live.

 

[willy]

How old/tall does it seem i need to get these things before the deer damage isnt as much of a worry?

Three years should be enough for them to have grown enough to survive heavy pressure. One thing about them is that if you cut them off close to the ground after 3 years of more, they send up lots of shoots that the deer browse the heck out of but they can't keep up with the growth and it turns into a bushy tree that same year. Bucks like to rub the hell out of them so you'll have a lot that get damaged that way but it won't kill them.

 

[MilkweedManiac]

I use the same welded wire material that I use for my fruit tree cages. The cool thing about it, is that willows are basically whips the first year, so I made, let's say 40-50 cages that were only 4-5 inches in diameter. I used wire cutters to cut the bottom layer off so it can be poked into the ground like a tomato cage. They can be rotated out each year to new trees since willows only need about a year or two max to get above deer browse height. This is obviously overkill if you are planting hundreds of cuttings. Then again, if you are planting hundreds of them, you need to put a hot fence around them, or at least a couple layers of dental floss (believe it or not, it can work). Most of mine from last year are too tall for deer to nip the central leader at this point.

 

[Northbound]

Hybrid poplar are the one tree I didn't have to protect. Granted that was 15 years ago. Since have all been cut down and burned. Now they all get tordon anytime I set another shoot. Certainly not a tree im happy I planted but they where as advertised so that's all on me.

Anyways I'd be tempted to just use perforated drain tile in your case. Cheap easy and easily removed. Honestly those things would prob just grow right around them even if you forgot to remove. I wouldn't use drain tile on a more delicate tree but id bet the poplar won't mind.

A friend of mine uses plastic drums as tree tubes. He gets them free and doesn't mind the hassle. Looks sloppy imo but functional

 

[SWIFFY]

Hybrid poplar are the one tree I didn't have to protect. Granted that was 15 years ago. Since have all been cut down and burned. Now they all get tordon anytime I set another shoot. Certainly not a tree im happy I planted but they where as advertised so that's all on me.

Anyways I'd be tempted to just use perforated drain tile in your case. Cheap easy and easily removed. Honestly those things would prob just grow right around them even if you forgot to remove. I wouldn't use drain tile on a more delicate tree but id bet the poplar won't mind.

A friend of mine uses plastic drums as tree tubes. He gets them free and doesn't mind the hassle. Looks sloppy imo but functional

Im in mostly open farm country looking to establish some trees/brush quickly in an area of brome grass. Now i know poplar arent the highest quality tree by any means but what is it you hated about them so much? Im all ears as I certainly dont want to do something im going to regret. I am planting them with numerous other types of trees and shrubs mixed in.

Thanks for your input

 

[Northbound]

Im in mostly open farm country looking to establish some trees/brush quickly in an area of brome grass. Now i know poplar arent the highest quality tree by any means but what is it you hated about them so much? Im all ears as I certainly dont want to do something im going to regret. I am planting them with numerous other types of trees and shrubs mixed in.

Thanks for your input

The biggest thing that became a problem is the leaves darn near the size of a plate once they got big. Sounds harmless but it becomes a solid mat and kills everything. They grow amazingly fast which is what I thought I wanted but when planted tight enough to screen the screen only functioned about 3 years and then lower branches lost there cover. Many roots grow up above ground surface and spread far. My situation of screening between orchard with clover ground cover and hay field was not right for them but was looking for instant results at the time. Final nail in coffin was when the farmer I lease hay fields to said he wouldn't be leasing that field anymore as the poplar leaves smoother out to much hay. I have since replaced the screen with conifers and am much happier.

A friend of mine planted hybrid poplar the same time I did. He has 4 rows and he cuts a row down every year to let shoots re grow. This works very well in his situation where he just wanted road screen and he doesn't do anything with the ditch or the crp type cover on other side. He never lets them get more than 12 feet tall using his rotation and always has low screening with the fresh shoots.