Stopping trunk sprouts

Catscratch

5 year old buck +
I'm really kind of tired of cutting theses off the trunk over and over. Any way to stop them?
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Haven't found a way yet. Pruning them off - especially with numerous trees - can eat up time from other improvements. Hoping someone on here has an answer.
 
I've considered modifying my cages so that the deer can get to them. Just let nature prune them. But that'd be a lot of work too!
 
I prune them off but I often see wild trees in open areas that look like a tall bush.
The main trunk is then somewhat protected from sunscauld and buck rubbing.

Perhaps a person could let them grow in the cage and then remove the cage. You might have less maintenance in the long run.

Usually the main trunk growth is much slower with those sprouts.
 
I take the cages off mine as the tree canopy starts taking form from 4.5/5 ft up. In other words, a bare trunk from that point down. That is usually when they are about 1.5” diameter. I put trunk protectors on them to discourage buck rubbing, and climbing fruit predators. The deer typically do not keep the stump sprouts eaten back. They may browse the leaves - but they dont prevent stump sprouts. I wont spray herbicide around those trees with stump sprouts
 
My deer go out of their way to destroy ANYTHING I want to keep. It might be a random hedge tree. It it's 1 out of a hundred and I decide I like it they will spend all night rubbing on it. They aren't afraid of large stuff either. I can't leave the fruit trees uncage at any size.
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I pull off those large tree cages once the trees are taller than the deer can browse so the deer can reach all the fruit that drops. I then put a 4' tall welded wire fence around the trunk to prevent bucks from rubbing the trees. The deer will eat any sprouts that grow through the trunk guard cage.

It works well and only once have I had a buck rub the tree through the trunk guard.
 
Believe it or not I tried a product called "sucker punch" on a pear tree I had grafted once. I must say it worked awesome.
 
My deer go out of their way to destroy ANYTHING I want to keep. It might be a random hedge tree. It it's 1 out of a hundred and I decide I like it they will spend all night rubbing on it. They aren't afraid of large stuff either. I can't leave the fruit trees uncage at any size.
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I would say that's a good problem to have though. That wasn't a button buck thrashing on that.
 
Man, that is a nice problem to have. I'm hard pressed to find any rubs and when you do, they're on trees broom handle size or smaller.
 
Bout 5 pounds of granular salt, or a bucket over the stump with a rock on top.

Back when I was clearing big trees for plots, I’d level cut that stump and put record rack mineral on top of the stump. Enough ran down and killed the stump and the deer got a treat. Year or two later I dug them out.

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Bout 5 pounds of granular salt, or a bucket over the stump with a rock on top.

Back when I was clearing big trees for plots, I’d level cut that stump and put record rack mineral on top of the stump. Enough ran down and killed the stump and the deer got a treat. Year or two later I dug them out.

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Unfortunately I think op is talking about suckers on his fruit trees. I have that issue as well! Pita!
 
Unfortunately I think op is talking about suckers on his fruit trees. I have that issue as well! Pita!
Oh! I didn't catch that.

Bungy cord some landscape fabric around the trunk? I really don't know. I have that stuff too.
 
I got a siebold/toringo crabapple that does that bad. Could be in the dolgo / siberian crab family of tree problems.

Wonder if just a light hit of diesel on the cutting would prevent regrowth and yet not damage the tree. Ill give it a try. Nip off the bushy spots probably 5 times a year on my toringo.
 
I climbed up into a 25' tall wild apple tree once and whacked the hell out of it to try to get it to produce more. The water sprouts came back 3x as bad the next year. I've got a prairie magic on my yard and I've got to whack half the tree off this winter as most of the growth came back where I didn't want it. If it get another foot or two of height, I'm gonna pull the cage and let the deer eat off that lower stuff.
 
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