Saving Apple trees

[Bill Loser]

I planted 6 Apple trees last year. Noticed today that rodents or rabbits got at 3 of them. Chewed the trunks all or most of the way around and about 6 to 12 inches up. Question is can I save them? Wrap them with something? Pretty sure I already know the answer, but thought I'd ask anyway!

 

[Prof.Kent]

I planted 6 Apple trees last year. Noticed today that rodents or rabbits got at 3 of them. Chewed the trunks all or most of the way around and about 6 to 12 inches up. Question is can I save them? Wrap them with something? Pretty sure I already know the answer, but thought I'd ask anyway!

Best of luck. Usually chewed all the way around means death. At that age trees don't have much constitution to draw from. You could try a bridge graft on the most-of-the-way-around-chewed ones, but healing would be slow even if the grafts are successful. Plus the tree would have a better chance if you pruned it back severely. If you want to at least save the rootstocks of the ones chewed all the way around you can remove the tree at the bottom of the chew and hope for the root to send up a water sprout which you can graft to next year. If you try to save the tree the root will probably die also because the tree will suck all the life out of the roots and then die along with the roots.
If the chewing only removed the outer bark and there is still live cambium it may heal. Paint it quickly (or use Treeseal) to avoid dehydration. I would expect 90% chance of death. Young trees are just too tender.

 

[rocksnstumps]

If not completely chewed around, they might still make it but the ones all around are goners. Do nothing on completely girdled and seen it where they still leaf out and look ok for awhile but end of summer they lose leaves early and dead sticks the next spring. The advice above about cutting off just below the chewing is maybe worth a try. But again these were only one yr old trees and not much time invested. Might be better off on planning to just replace this fall or next spring

 

[yoderjac]

I'd say that for most trees, they are not worth saving if chewed through. If they were fully established trees that were unique enough to save, there are some odd grafting techniques where you can graft scions such that one end is grafted below and the other above the injury. This only works if you catch it before the cambium above the wound dies.

If it were me and the trees were planted in the fall/winter of 2016 or the spring of 2017 and were otherwise growing well, I would cut them just below the injury and seal it. Hopefully you will get a water sprout that forms a new central leader. I'd let it grow a year and then graft it next spring. That root system will be better established than a newly planted tree.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Apple Junkie]

Personally, I'd just re-plant where you lost last year's plantings. It hurts to loose any tree, but you only had one year invested in the girdled trees, so the setback is not too extreme.

Inventory is usually pretty picked over by this time, but just as a heads-up, I see Cummins Nursery just add a bunch of semi-standard trees to their web-site. If you do decide to re-plant, that's one option to consider. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[sandbur]

Cut them off and protect them for a few years. Leave only one trunk. Rootstocks can make great deer trees and you can always topwork them in future years.

One of my favorite late season Deer apples is a rootstock.

If you have room, plant new trees elsewhere.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Barndog56]

If they're small enough cut off below the chew, and above the chew, and regraft them together. Might work?

 

[Bill Loser]

Thanks guys, that's about what I thought the answer would be. Think I'll replant, hopefu lot this spring yet. As stated not a lot time invested yet, and I did get them cheap. Sustainable wildlife habitats in Cambridge wis, they usually have what they call conservation trees. They aren't "yard grade" trees , not perfect I guess. I got 6 of them last year for $14 each 6-8 footers.
Its just a piss off because it's my first try with fruit trees, I was going to tube them but I forgot to do it .

 

[sandbur]

Thanks guys, that's about what I thought the answer would be. Think I'll replant, hopefu lot this spring yet. As stated not a lot time invested yet, and I did get them cheap. Sustainable wildlife habitats in Cambridge wis, they usually have what they call conservation trees. They aren't "yard grade" trees , not perfect I guess. I got 6 of them last year for $14 each 6-8 footers.
Its just a piss off because it's my first try with fruit trees, I was going to tube them but I forgot to do it .

Plan on fencing and screening them right away. Plan that cost into the planting.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[wooduck]

Cut off let sprout , from root stock , protect late july early aug t bud new tree , 2 years from now you will have a great tree the root system is still there and wants to grow Did I mention protect , we use tree guards and still bait for voles they chew roots under ground also , your problem was probably not rabbits voles are the worst

 

[Jhoss]

I have bigtime doubts on the survival. I have had rabbit attacks on grafted rootlings...grafted in April and grown over the summer until they are 2 to 3 feet tall. Along comes winter and the rabbits come in and snip them at snow level maybe 8 to 12 inches from the ground..which is above the graft union. I remember thinking - well they set them back but either the rootstock or the destination variety should survive it. No Sir -all the rabbit snipped treelings died. I'm not talking gnawed either, I'm talking just snipped off, like you hit them with pruners..nice clean snip...dead...all...no recovery.

 

[chickenlittle]

I have seen several versions of this question and suggestions to cut it off and wait to graft a sucker next year. If you got 6" of intact tree below the complete girdle, that makes little sense to me. Regraft when trees start leafing out this year. It'll be 6ft tall by September if the graft takes. You can connect scionwood from that tree now.

Or if the girdling is several inches above the graft union, cut it off at the girdle and see if a bud pushes from above the union. If one does push, keep removing any suckers to focus growth on that bud. It'll be 6ft tall by September.

If it is 75 to maybe 90% girdled around, I'd prune hard and let it try to recover. Let one sucker live in case the top fails. Tbud the sucker in August.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I'm not rubbing salt in your wound .......... but this is why so many guys on here say to screen and cage right at the same time trees are planted. If anyone has learned this the hard way - it's me. My camp put black corrugated drain pipe around apple trees planted about 15 years ago. Mice / voles built beautiful "hotels" in those pipes and had a feast on our trees all winter long. They ALL died. With the new trees we've been planting over the last 5 years - I heeded the advice of guys on here to screen & cage at planting time. We have 100% success with screens and cages.

We go a bit further by putting 30" x 30" landscape cloth (for weeds) down and piling crushed limestone all over it to a depth of 4". Mice and voles can't tunnel in it and don't like the sharp, jagged edges of the stone.

 

[Jhoss]

I have seen several versions of this question and suggestions to cut it off and wait to graft a sucker next year. If you got 6" of intact tree below the complete girdle, that makes little sense to me. Regraft when trees start leafing out this year. It'll be 6ft tall by September if the graft takes. You can connect scionwood from that tree now.

Or if the girdling is several inches above the graft union, cut it off at the girdle and see if a bud pushes from above the union. If one does push, keep removing any suckers to focus growth on that bud. It'll be 6ft tall by September.

If it is 75 to maybe 90% girdled around, I'd prune hard and let it try to recover. Let one sucker live in case the top fails. Tbud the sucker in August.

Hey CL, I gotta reply to this. Here's the rub. I've let the rabbit damaged (just snipped, not girdled) just go hoping to have some stock to bud graft to in - as you mentioned - late July / August. The rub is that THEY ALL DIED / never greened up - not the rootstock nor the grafted on variety! So, grafting stock onto them would just be a back breaking excersize in futility. I don't know why, I was really surprised/shocked that a rabbit bite / snip / pruning late winter could / would kill a new graftling. Growing right next the the same age graftling, unmolested by rabbits, just go gangbusters in their second year. I have the exact scenario playing out this winter as I ran out of hardware cloth so had to do selection of which ones I was willing to risk. I hope to see some life on them - I may even whip on some scion wood if I do see life in the rootstock or, halleluhja, life in the destination stick on top but my hopes are pretty low as I have seen in the past, zero life left after a rabbit goes "a-trimming".
Now I take you down a long dark road where I remember reading that as an evolutionary trait, the whitetail deer's saliva, has evolved to be some form of "stunter" that, when mixed with the juices of the chewed wood produces a splitting effect where the tree/bush will actually divide and build two or more splits where it's been chewed thus producing more browse for the deer eventually. Makes me wonder if rabbit saliva is the opposite and just plain toxic to apple trees at least and based on my experience, I lean this way / I have seen no evidence othewise - but I ask the group. Have you seen Rabbit trimmed first year graftlings come back to life after a small bit of trimming by Ole' Buggs?

 

[chickenlittle]

Have you seen Rabbit trimmed first year graftlings come back to life after a small bit of trimming by Ole' Buggs?

Yes, both apple grafts and seedlings in my nursery got hit by rabbits at various times last year until I got them properly protected and they did just fine last summer. I had about 3" of snow and rabbits chewed a couple dozen seedlings off at the snow line in December. All but one tiny runt grew back. The grafts had many many nibbles and did ok. I had some grafts gnawed on last fall before I put my fencing back up and a bit more over the winter. I assume those will all do fine.

Here are photos of the seedlings and how they recovered. I could have easily cleft grafted onto those and got those to take.
January 2017

May 2017


August 2017

 

[Jhoss]

Can’t see your pics but right on - there’s still hope

 

[Neahawg]

What we have done is planted an extra rootstock directly next to the tree and grafted it into the danger tree above the area of damage. I'll try and take a picture next time were up there.

 

[Jhoss]

@ ChickenLittle - I can see these on my computer (not on my phone..hmm), great pics and thanks much for instilling the hope!

 

[Prof.Kent]

I have bigtime doubts on the survival. I have had rabbit attacks on grafted rootlings...grafted in April and grown over the summer until they are 2 to 3 feet tall. Along comes winter and the rabbits come in and snip them at snow level maybe 8 to 12 inches from the ground..which is above the graft union. I remember thinking - well they set them back but either the rootstock or the destination variety should survive it. No Sir -all the rabbit snipped treelings died. I'm not talking gnawed either, I'm talking just snipped off, like you hit them with pruners..nice clean snip...dead...all...no recovery.

I've had rabbits snip the trees off at snow line and leave the top laying there on the snow without eating it. Rabbits are just mean.

 

[Jhoss]

I've had rabbits snip the trees off at snow line and leave the top laying there on the snow without eating it. Rabbits are just mean.

Did the victims survive?