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Protecting Apple tree grafts from deer

8K views 42 replies 12 participants last post by  Yatt 
#1 ·
Hardly ever get to this forum so beg pardon if subject has been published before. I have many year old grafts that were put in ground after Christmas. Deer are snipping off the top buds. I've put cages around them but somehow they still reach them. This week I sprayed a second application of "Liquid Fence" around them. Is there anything short of waiting with a 30/30 to keep the trees safe? Thanks ahead.
 
#2 ·
F---ing deer ... I can't grow much at all because of those large, voracious rat's. I'm not a big fan of those smelly concoctions. They work until it rains and then they are mostly gone. A heavy steel cage with a top can help. But if a deer is hungry enough that cage is going to be tested. Unfortunately, mature trees seem to be the most resistant. Young plants of any kind are just going to get browsed by the deer. Motion activated sprinklers can be fairly effective but they are only practical if you have water handy.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=deer sprinklers
 
#4 ·
Damn. Did you graft all of those? That a lot of cutting and splicing.
You do know that Bud 9 has shallow roots and should be staked for a few years.
That's great on the fence. I just can afford that. Good job.
 
#6 ·
I am quite familiar with the rootstock. It will be grown on the tall spindle system and be supported by four strands of 12.5 gauge high tensile wire.

The trees are shipped bare root already grafted. The size ranged from 3/8ths to 1/2" feathered stock.
 
#8 ·
I don't know anything about orchards, i'm guessing the goal is to grow apples. Do you intentionally keep those trees small? How long before they start bearing fruit? How many pounds of fruit per tree do you get? Sorry about all the uninformed questions, i am truly curious.
 
#11 ·
I will answer a couple of your basic questions, however if you are truly interested this video which is long really explains things much better than I ever could.

The trees are planted on 12' rows with 36" between trees, height is kept to 9' max.

Feathered trees are cropped the year after planting, this is called the 2nd leaf.

Yields are projected at 1,000 bushels/acre in 5 years, 40# per bushel.

This is the future of orchards and many are converting to this tall spindle system.

 
#9 ·
Absolutely beautiful. Love the watering system and edgeguards. You are certainly way more professional and care to trees than I could ever afford.
Wish I could as I love the whole aspect of fruit trees.
Thanks so much for sharing these.
Kindness goes so far.
Roy
 
#12 ·
Thank you for the kind words Roy.

I have had apples since 1991 and my old standard sized trees were past prime and the quality of the apples was going down hill. Once you start spraying and start an Integrated Pest Management system it isn't much more effort to spray a lot of trees than to spray a few. The large trees were very inefficient and wasted a lot of chemical. So I embarked on this project which should keep me going for the rest of my days as I am now retired. It is a pretty big project for a homeowner/hobby but will pay for itself and should break even next year in regard to covering chemicals. In two more years there should be a return and a good return in 4 years.
 
#13 ·
Roy I guess I never answered you original question as I digress as I often do. I use "Hinder" deer repellent around the house. It is relatively inexpensive but has to be used periodically.

I have used Thiram but found it wasn't that great and plugged up sprayers.

Tree Guard is supposed to be much better but was incredibly expensive.

Egg whites, albumen which gets putrid is effective but temporary.

Here is a test that was done.
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1568&context=icwdm_usdanwrc
 
#16 ·
I've spent a lot of time in that very orchard in Hendersonville. It is beautiful. Generally there in pruning season to talk about that part of the growing of fruit trees. It's amazing in the autumn how many apples are on the almost bare of limbs trees.
I'am only about 1.5 hours away. Also, I've tried to find "Tree Guard" but seems that it is no longer made. Any other suggestions. Thanks so much for your help Yatt.
Roy
 
#17 ·
My name is Ron, Yatt is my dog in the Avatar. That's a John Deere owners edition hat on his head.

I don't have a good answer for you Roy, that is why I posted the pics of the fence first. It is the ONLY thing that has truly worked. My first fence was high tensile wire spaced 9" apart and the deer went right through it. I fastened poultry wire to it and that did keep the little bastages out but it rusted and looked terrible. The 8' knotted high tensile wire has worked well. I salvaged it from a deer farm and got it for about 20 cents on the dollar.

The problem with deer is they only eat 1% of the tree, the terminal bud but that determines how the tree grows next year.

This is amazing but this is a pic of my bare root trees blooming 6 weeks after planting. I had to spray a double dose of thinners to know the bloom off.



 
#25 ·
Grafting would be a big no no. Some of the stock coming required signing a non propagation agreement. I haven't done any grafting due to the trees aren't that expensive when bought in large quantities. Once you go over a hundred at a time, the bare root stock is inexpensive and shipping isn't bad.

3/4s of what I will be growing are 3 strains of Honeycrisp, Regular, Premier (early) and Firestorm (redder). Those are pretty expensive apples to put into cider as these wholesale for close to $50/bushel. From what I have read, cider apple trees grow a lot more quantity too.
 
#29 ·
An angled fence can be used to keep deer out as well, if its on an angle it sometimes confuses the deer as they dont have good depth perception.

Running electricity through the fence can help as well, just put peanut butter on a wire a few times a year so the deer will shock themselves and learn to stay away.
 
#31 ·
Well the old thread got resurrected. Here are some updated pics of what is going on. I planted 270 more this year, Honeycrisp, Firestorm Honeycrisp, Wolf River, Zestar, Granny Smith and 10 crab apples (for pollinators. They are doing well but didn't grow as fast as the first year. I had a consultant look at them two weeks ago. I need to start with growth regulators next year and phosphorous and potash according to soil tests. Haven't done tissue testing yet.

These first pics are 17 month old trees.









These are this years trees:



 
#33 ·
Well next Spring 140 Premier Honeycrisp are going in then I'll probably call it quits................:rolleyes:

I wanted to get the end post bracing in before the ground freezes. But the fencing company I get my posts from has not come through.:hammerhead::angry:

You just can't get 12' round posts just anywhere. Getting them in now is just one fewer thing I need to do in the Spring.:weightlifter:
 
#34 ·
I saw those in Italy this past May. There was a top huge cable strung along the whole row and anchored with those huge deep twist type anchors. the line was tighten from a lightpole or bigger. So impressive. There were miles and miles of orchards as far as you could see on the Po Valley from outside Bologna all the way to Ravenna. There were growing oranges, lemons, apples, pears, and some others that I could not recognize. What a impressive sight. Yours are of the same quality or better and just as impressive!!!
 
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