North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[RW Spalinger <rwspal@earthlink.net>]

On Sep 24, 2004, at 7:30 AM, Martha Barrett / Scott Weber wrote:

> Deb,
> Two things come to mind for the trees.  First, make certain that the 
> deer
> can't get to the trees now, or the bucks will be tearing up the bark
> polishing their antlers.  Second, definately put hardware cloth or
> something around to keep the voles from girdling them...

I agree with and emphasize the first point particularly about the deer. 
The males will destroy an orchard - tree by tree, as they move through 
scraping their antlers on the trunks and through the branches.

Using some heavy gauge 2"X 4" fencing material, 4 feet high circling 
the trees, about a foot or so from the trunk will keep them from 
savaging the trunks.  A five foot section of rebar anchoring the fence 
material to the ground will keep the little fence from being pushed 
onto the trunk.

Where I am, SE Texas, zone 9, we don't have voles, but we do have a 
healthy gopher population to deal with. Gophers like to eat tree roots 
and dig the dirt out from under trees to make their nests.

Randall Spalinger