North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>]

At 11:58 AM 11/23/2006, tanis wrote:
> I see deer damage on black walnuts, i.e. browse of the seedlings and 
> buck-rub on the
> saplings.  The deer can't keep up w/ what the squirrels plant, but I 
> think you want
> to fence or wrap anything you value.

Amen to that.
Starting in 1998, I planted several hundred pecan and black walnut 
seedlings, as well as a few chestnuts and selected oaks in a 100 ft 
riparian bufferstrip bordering the creek that forms the eastern 
boundary of my farm - total acreage, about 7 acres.  This strip is 
fenced off so that the cattle/horses do not have access to this area.
Whitetail deer are a tremendous plague - they browse heavily - 
big-budded shellbark hickory cultivars grafted onto the seedling 
pecans are like candy to them.  And in fall, the bucks can demolish 
well-grown trees by effectively girdling them from about 6 inches 
above ground level, up as high as they can rake them with their antlers.
A few - probably less than 20% of the trees I planted have been able 
to get past the hooved rats, and are now large enough that the deer 
don't pose a huge danger to them.


Lucky Pittman
USDA Cold Zone 6
AHS Heat Zone 7
Hopkinsville, KY