North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Hélène Dessureault <interverbis@videotron.ca>]

Toni,
First of all don't get discouraged, we are not the only creatures enjoying
fruits and fruit trees.

Trim off the damaged branches to the nearest healthy bud and be ready to
control excess side branching in the next growing season.
If the diameter of the trunk is not too big and the trunk is not completely
girdled, I would use the parafilm tape that was under discussion on this
list a few weeks ago to cover the injuries. I found that it gives some
protection while the tree produces scar tissues.

I don't know what size tree you are aiming for (three foot stick???) but
really if you have 4 feet of snow, and there are rabbits around maybe you
should let the trees get taller. You would do this by letting your main
leader get taller before you let it branch out.

A bit off track but maybe worth mentioning is that I am discovering how to
prune preventatively by flicking off unwanted buds that are showing signs of
unwanted activity during the growing season. This avoids a lot of pruning
and wasting the trees useful growth, which is a factor in short growing
season. It requires continual observation, though, (more fun and less work).

All you need to do is remove the bud with your "thumb".

If your thumb is "green" that's even better.

Hélène, zone 4a


----- Original Message -----
From: "Toni Pralle" <toni.pralle@gmail.com>
To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 9:34 PM
Subject: [NAFEX] rabbit damage


> Now that the 4 feet of snow is melting, I see that every one of my
> fruit trees has been chewed by rabbits. I have the wrapper stuff
> around the trunk so I hope it won't be a total loss but every branch
> is chewed. What do I do now? Is there something to paint or spray on
> them? With the humidity from the melting snow I didn't think anything
> would stick. Should I just trim off everything at the trunk? I'll have
> a three foot stick left.
>
> This will be their 4th summer and I have gotten one apple and nothing
> else. I was so hoping I would have fruit from everything this year. I
> don't think it's to be.
>
> --
> Toni in zone 4 Iowa USA
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