what shrubs are very attractive for deer browse.

[Bowsnbucks]

I didn't know ninebark was a good browse plant. Or that ROD would grow well in drier, upland sites. I've always read ROD was for wetter soils.
Any info on either of these shrubs is welcome.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

I have about 100 ninebark growing on a field edge windbreak. They are solid shrubs for the outer edge of a windbreak and are great for small game, but the deer don't seem to browse them too heavily in Rusk County WI. ROD grows about anywhere, including upland sites. The deer definitely like to browse that shrub, but if you can cage it for a few years to get established it can withstand hard browsing.

 

[roymunson]

Anything you'd really like to see grow to maturity.

 

[Lucky_P]

Here... mulberry. If you don't cage them or somehow protect them from deer to allow them to achieve 'tree' status, between constant browsing and bucks beating the hell out of them during the rut, they stay in 'shrub' or bush form. Deer routinely come within 50 ft of the house - at night, I presume - to browse the leaves off of mulberry seedlings that pop up in the wife's flower beds - I let them grow there the first year, then dig them, pot them up, and graft over to superior fruiting selections.

 

[Foggy47]

My wife has a Hosta garden here at our home.....on the shady side of our house.....and more around the perimeter of the house. I bet we have 100 of 'em with different varieties. The deer really can put the hurt on them....but they bounce back pretty quickly. She splits them into two or 4 plants at times and they all flourish with minimal attention. Our daughters have also started Hosta gardens with plants from our home.....and one of our daughters has more plants than we do now. They diminish with cold weather to nearly nothing.....and then in early spring they are back in spades through fall.

I think if you were able to have a cage system that was easy to cover or remove.....that this could be a viable way to keep deer onto your place. Was just thinking about a cage design that would allow eating the excess growth.....but then limit how far down the plant could be eaten. The Hosta's grow so fast (under good conditions) and are so durable that a cage such as said might be a great way to ensure the plants surviving.

Hostas are somewhat expensive to buy....but will multiply very fast. I'd say they are as attractive as apples or dogwood??

Dogwoods have a similar effect on deer.

EDIT: Likely easier to grow corn or soybeans. Grin.

 

[Native Hunter]

Strawberry Bush is at the top of the list, but I'm not sure how far north it would survive.

Any B118 rooted apple trees that fall over are about equal to strawberry bush.

Mulberry is a close second and one of the most overlooked deer browse plants. This goes for white, red and the hybrids. It's hard for a volunteer mulberry to survive here.

Arrowwood Viburnum is browsed very well on my farm. Young plants and tender new growth on older plants are a little more attractive than soft maple.

It looks like I'm not going to be successful at growing Red Osier Dogwood. My caged plants did well until this year but seem to be slowly dying, I'm probably too far south for them. Several other dogwoods like grey and roughleaf do well here and are medium preference browse.

A lot is written about blackberry being browsed, but I seldom see it myself. Multiflora rose seems to be browsed a little more than blackberry.

Elderberry gets browsed a little but it is lower preference. The same goes for hazelnuts.

I try to find browsing on the various sumacs, but I never see any evidence.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Our camp planted some ROD, gray dogwood, and arrowwood viburnum this spring, along with many other varieties. Caged all of them right away. We're hoping those 3 varieties get established on the property for browse purposes. Birds may help with spreading some around our logged areas and field edges.

 

[Catscratch]

Deer go through my cages to get to Che trees (related to Hedge and Mulberry). Way more work yo protect them than apple or pears.

 

[jsasker007]

I would add serviceberry to the list. Tried growing some without caging. They have cages now.

 

[Angus 1895]

I planted a chokeberry, didn’t cage it…..three days later it was gnawed down and sporting a cage.

 

[Telemark]

I planted a chokeberry, didn’t cage it…..three days later it was gnawed down and sporting a cage.

Aronia?

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Aronia?

Black Chokeberry. Aronia melanocarpa, I believe. Berries are reported to be a "superfood" for people, due to the loads of antioxidants in them. Commercial farmers grow them in European countries for human consumption.

 

[Telemark]

Cool. I will have to get some of those.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Cool. I will have to get some of those.

For eating yourself - or for wildlife?? Wife and I had 2 black chokeberry plants in a shrub bed here at home, but dug them out because she wanted flowers instead. They don't seem to be fussy growers. They grew well in our clayish soil. FYI - there are several varieties that have been hybridized to grow low to the ground, and others are more like the native type that grow taller (6 -7 feet). Some have been hybridized to produce larger berries for eating - Nero and Viking are the common varieties grown for eating from all I've read on them. Good luck with yours if you plant some.

 

[jsasker007]

For eating yourself - or for wildlife?? Wife and I had 2 black chokeberry plants in a shrub bed here at home, but dug them out because she wanted flowers instead. They don't seem to be fussy growers. They grew well in our clayish soil. FYI - there are several varieties that have been hybridized to grow low to the ground, and others are more like the native type that grow taller (6 -7 feet). Some have been hybridized to produce larger berries for eating - Nero and Viking are the common varieties grown for eating from all I've read on them. Good luck with yours if you plant some.

Are they fast growing? I try to find stuff that can be tall enough so deer can't eat the tops off after a couple of years. If it's something that is also tasty for people and just the deer is a huge plus for me.

 

[Telemark]

For eating yourself - or for wildlife?? Wife and I had 2 black chokeberry plants in a shrub bed here at home, but dug them out because she wanted flowers instead. They don't seem to be fussy growers. They grew well in our clayish soil. FYI - there are several varieties that have been hybridized to grow low to the ground, and others are more like the native type that grow taller (6 -7 feet). Some have been hybridized to produce larger berries for eating - Nero and Viking are the common varieties grown for eating from all I've read on them. Good luck with yours if you plant some.

For deer. I might take a few berries if it's convenient, but I need a lot of shrubs For deer.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Are they fast growing? I try to find stuff that can be tall enough so deer can't eat the tops off after a couple of years. If it's something that is also tasty for people and just the deer is a huge plus for me.

J -
The ones we had at home were a dwarf variety. They get no more than 3 feet tall. I don't know about the taller types that get 6 or 7 feet tall. Our soil at home is clay, so I don't know if they'd grow faster in better soil or not. They were pretty hardy, and came back each year - no problem. We have no deer browsing where we live, so no info there.

I only responded to a gent above (Telemark) who posted "Aronia"?? Seemed he was asking what it was - so I responded. The berries are supposed to be even higher in anti-oxidants and other nutrients than blueberries, which is why they're grown commercially in some European countries for the people to eat / make juice / pies / jam, etc.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

For deer. I might take a few berries if it's convenient, but I need a lot of shrubs For deer.

There are nurseries that handle the taller varieties, which would probably be better for deer use. I've seen pics of the taller types in commercial berry patches. They looked like the bushes of American highbush cranberry (Viburnum trilobum). The berries are very tart and astringent right off the bush. I think the berries get sweetened to make juice, pies, jam, etc. If you try one right off the bush, you'll know why the common name is "black chokeberry." Sugar needed.

 

[cbw]

Just got this in the mail from the Iowa DNR nursery. Super helpful.

Included hardwoods

I would love to see a chart like this for all native species—especially those ‘weeds’ in the seed-bank.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Lucky_P]

For eating yourself - or for wildlife?? Wife and I had 2 black chokeberry plants in a shrub bed here at home, but dug them out because she wanted flowers instead. They don't seem to be fussy growers. They grew well in our clayish soil. FYI - there are several varieties that have been hybridized to grow low to the ground, and others are more like the native type that grow taller (6 -7 feet). Some have been hybridized to produce larger berries for eating - Nero and Viking are the common varieties grown for eating from all I've read on them. Good luck with yours if you plant some.

Genetic testing has revealed that the larger-fruiting Aronia selections, like Viking, Nero, McKenzie are actually Sorbaronia X - hybrids of Sorbus (European mountain ash) and Aronia.
I've got a single seedling selection of A.melanocarpa, from OIKOS Tree Crops, purchased 10 years or more ago. I never notice the deer browsing it, and it does produce a good crop of black, astringent berries - smaller than those I've seen in landscape plantings that were probably Viking. I do a vodka extraction with them, and mix it in with homemade blueberry brandy... the Aronia lend a nice astringency.