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  • From: drbeckl <drbeckl@yahoo.com>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [NAFEX] blackberry plants and deer
  • Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 22:12:55 -0800 (PST)

Hi;
I have bot 25 blackberry bare-root plants last fall, and have them
heeled-in
the soil to plant in a new garden area in March or April. They are all
thornless varieties: Arapaho, Navaho, Ouichita, Triple crown, Apache,
Chester.

I am going to plant them in a old hayfield, that is not yet fenced in.
[
against deer. ]
There are deer around this area that come in and eat at nite. I have
noticed that deer here do not seem to eat the wild blackberry plants
that
grow around here; but the wild b.b.'s have thorns on them. They also
mite
taste differently to deer than tame b.b.'s.

I also have another main garden area fenced in with a electric fence to
protect the food crops from the deer; but there is no room in that plot
for
the blackberries.

My question is: Will the deer damage the thornless blackberry plants ?
i.e.: Do deer like to eat thornless blackberry plants ? Should I fence
in
the blackberry patch before I do the planting of the b.b. plants ?

I was hoping to postpone fencing in the blackberry plot until fall,
2007;
if at all possible. But, if deer do like to eat thornless blackberry
plants, then I will have to do the fencing before I set the bare-root
plants
out.

Also; do I have to worry about field mice girdling the b.b. plants
lower
stems ??? Should I put plastic, or duct tape, around the lower stems
to
protect them from being girdled by the field mice ??
thanks for any help,
dan in WVa, usda zone 6.




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