Protecting trees. Cage dimensions, etc.

[Telemark]

I bought 450 feet of the 5' remesh and a bunch of aluminum screen.

What diameter should my cages be?

What diameter and height should my screen tubes be? How do you make them?

Where do you buy your landscape cloth, and how much should it cost?

 

[greyphase]

Most people cut their remesh in 15 foot lengths.
I cut my screening in 18-20 inch lengths. Fold it into a cylinder and staple with a common paper stapler.

 

[H20fwler]

I make my cages around 12.5' so I can get 12 cages out of a 150' roll of remesh. I try and make my screens as tall as I can usually until I hit first branching, I buy 24" screen and fold it down as needed and do same stapling with common stapler. I put the screen tubes on the trees at home before I even take them out to farm, saves a step on planting day.

 

[Telemark]

So I see 12.5' cages at nearly 4' diameter. And 15' cages at 4.8'. Is this right? Is one better than the other?

 

[H20fwler]

IDK? It's just personal preference. The bigger gives a little more room if that's what you want the smaller gives you two more cages.

 

[andrew bullard]

Definitely personnel preference. My chestnut cages are 10' sections of welded wire x 5' tall. In some places I plant I'm not able to take advantage of the entire 10' section because the ground is uneven. I've seen smaller cages and I'm sure it's better than nothing but I personally wouldn't cut them smaller than 10'.

I'd go larger if needed to accommodate low branches on an apple tree.

 

[Telemark]

I'm just using the equation for circumference. C=πD. Right?

 

[Tree Spud]

I bought 450 feet of the 5' remesh and a bunch of aluminum screen.

What diameter should my cages be?

What diameter and height should my screen tubes be? How do you make them?

Where do you buy your landscape cloth, and how much should it cost?

Is this for shrubs, hardwoods, conifers, or fruit (pear/apple) trees?

 

[Telemark]

Apple trees.

 

[Turkey Creek]

Make them bigger if deer pressure is high. Antlerless deer can get their heads through the openings in remesh and will trim off anything they can reach.

 

[Telemark]

Well, unfortunately, I do not have much deer pressure. So I can keep the cages tighter?

 

[Appleman]

The best method I find for fencing deer out is to build an exclusion area around the whole perimeter of your tree plot. This allows for easy of access and caring for your trees. As the trees get large enough to fruit I remove the fencing for hunting season and put it back right after the hunting seasons end. Once the trees have matured enough and are fruiting I remove the fencing. Over the course of six or seven years I have removed the lowest tier (scafolds) to the browse line. The b118 rootstock produces a tree about 75 to 80 percent the size of a standard and looks quite nice using this method.

 

[H20fwler]

What variety of apples are those still hanging? Very nice looking set up.

 

[Tree Spud]

I'm just using the equation for circumference. C=πD. Right?

I use Circ = 3.15 x dia

 

[Telemark]

Appleman, they don't jump over the fence?

 

[Tree Spud]

I would add steel 1/4" wire mesh around the base. Cut 24" about 20" long. At one end cut 2" x 2" tabs and bend out ward. Wrap this arund base of trunk and cover with gravel (white marble or other non leaching type. Protects against mice and other rodents eating the bark under the snow.

 

[Trapper LM]

I personally use 24" screen around the trunk and cut my rewire 21 feet which only gets me 7 out of the roll. But like others have said, antlerless will stick their heads through those 6X6 openings and do your lower trimming for you if you don't go big enough. I pay .05 a square foot when I buy rolls 4' X 300' of matting..

 

[4wanderingeyes]

The best method I find for fencing deer out is to build an exclusion area around the whole perimeter of your tree plot. This allows for easy of access and caring for your trees. As the trees get large enough to fruit I remove the fencing for hunting season and put it back right after the hunting seasons end. Once the trees have matured enough and are fruiting I remove the fencing. Over the course of six or seven years I have removed the lowest tier (scafolds) to the browse line. The b118 rootstock produces a tree about 75 to 80 percent the size of a standard and looks quite nice using this method.View attachment 16927

Looks like lots of tracks.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Each guy has their own situation. If you don't have many deer, you might be able to get away with tighter cages if browsing isn't a big problem. But a few deer can eat a lot !! We use 4' dia. cages and have had some branch tips chewed, but it hasn't hurt the trees. As they grow taller, we prune the lowest limbs off so the lowest scaffolds are 5 ft. above the ground - or higher. We have a fair number of deer and this method has kept our apples & crabs 95% free of deer nipping.

Aluminum window screen height depends on how deep your snow typically gets. I use 32" wide screen (off the roll) and cut pieces 18" long, so when I fold it in half around the trunk to staple it, I have 9" on both sides. Then I just staple it shut and have a sleeve 32" high X 9" wide, with "slop" room inside to allow for trunk growth. This gives us protection if the snow gets 30" deep or so. As others have said, we also pile crushed stone around the base of the screen about 4" deep so mice/voles don't want to tunnel through that to get inside the screen.

 

[Telemark]

Thanks for the tips, guys.

What is a good place to buy lanscape cloth?