When and What after Grow Tubes?

[Belo]

I'm on year 2 of using grow tubes to plant persimmons, chestnuts and oaks. Most have done well with basic weed maintenance and spraying. I skipped weed mats as I only have about 15 or so total.

Last year I had deer eat the top off one of my chestnuts and this year found a new broken branch on a 2nd year oak that is poking through. At what point do you take the tube off? I would probably cage after the tube is off, but looking for recommendations. I've attached some pics below of trees that are in year 2, a few that are in year 1 as well as a chestnut that was planted from pots and caged.

 

[Catscratch]

I'd say it's time to cage them. Be careful if you have much wind. The top wire of the cage will rub the bark off those whips if they blow around much and aren't staked.

 

[ksJoe]

I was hoping to leave tubes on to discourage rubbing, thinking the trees would grow out the top (above easy reach of the deer) and then just grow fine. Does this not work?

 

[T-Max]

I have caged trees with the tubes still on. They did fine for me. The trunk rubbing on the top of the cage did get me on a few like Cat said.

 

[The Fishman]

It really is dependent on each individual tree as far as when to remove the tube. Seedlings can be the same height out of the tube but have vastly different calipers. One may be able to support itself fine, while the same height seedling next to it falls over. If the tree is out of the cage by several feet and can support itself, cage it. If it cannot support itself, leave the tube on it until it can support itself. To me, it is too hard to support a small diameter tree in a cage without it getting damaged even if the seedling is staked.

 

[rocksnstumps]

After a tube has done its job with accelerated growth, I usually cut them off. Slitting tube lengthwise they tend to curl up tightly. I will recycle these into tree supports inside the cage I add when the tree is whippy without help.

 

[KY wild]

I use 5 foot tubes which keeps my deer from eating off the top, I then keep them cleaned inside and first branches are at 5 feet. Then I leave the tube on until I feel a buck will not rub the tree, after about 7 years or so I need to loosen it to the point that it no longer touches itself but still keeps away rubbing. I have tubes at about 9 years with large trees and it is only thing I do. I never cage these trees, I do not have bears and the tube does everything else for me that I need. I really don't understand why you would replace the tube with a cage, I wish others on here would explain why you need all the cost and trouble of replacing tubes with cages. Tubes forever on my land, what am I missing?

 

[rocksnstumps]

Those up north with harsh winters and lots of snow have more rodent issues. I try to use the largest dia tubes at the start and that extra space makes "bridging" material mouse house building limited. As the trunk diameter grows they can pack more crap in there to suspend their nest above the ground/snow line. Also have to do yearly maintenance like removing leaves that build up in bottom or the little side shoots that happen in a tube. You kinda get busy and skip maintenance for several yrs and likely even with window screen around trunk inside tube the little critter bas-turds will piss you off. Once tubes are removed willful neglect doesn't come back to bite you as often.

Like tubes for quick growth and get the leader way above browse height. The cages I add later are minimal dia for rub protection so still not much dollars if any more because only cage from the start needs to be at least 2x bigger to protect and no accelerated growth makes that top just too tempting for many growing seasons.

Edit: I also like using 5 ft tubes but find on a sidehill they can stand on the uphill side and still munch the top. At least they really try on desirable fruit trees and deep snow makes it even easier

 

[bigboreblr]

See lots of failed tube trees driving around in NY. Not a big fan of them. IF watering is an issue, the ones that make it, cage them.

 

[rocksnstumps]

^^^ I see many failed tree tube attempts on public lands. They have a limited budget and typically have only 4 ft tubes because cheaper and ongoing maintenance is not budgeted. Using 4 ft tubes is likely to fail in a high deer pop area. No tube maintenance after 1st year of planting is also likely to cause failure if winter rodent activity/tree girdling is high

But doing big cages is more material and labor costs and have only seen that in very small plantings of less than a couple dozen trees. Where they plant from 50 - 500 trees it's always tubes.