EatSleepHunt
Active Member
I would go with 60" tubes, 48" head height for browsing deer. I went with tree pro vented .Check out there web site. Ask for the seconds or "rejects". I got them for 2.50 a tube. That was about 1.75- 2.00 off. Hope that helps.
HorseDoctor
PMA Member
I've used Miracle Tudes from Tree Pro. Had one batch that disintegrated after a year because someone forgot the UV stabilizer in the mix. They replaced those all free of charge. Otherwise been very happy with them. Get 5' tube and treated wood stakes. The bamboo stakes don't last.
gundog870
Premium Platinum Member
I'm debating doing another planting in an open overgrown pasture area with no tubes, and no mowing. Think the grass will completely shade out the tress? I'm also thinkingif thw trees can survive being shaded out that they will have great cover to grow in the grass
HorseDoctor
PMA Member
I've taken both tacks over the years & your survival rate will be MUCH higher with the tubes. At least mine has...
Save ur time for when u can protect em. If ur area is in a secure location where deer will be prevalent- I dunno- I'm going to say u will need in the THOUSANDS of trees to get any to live to see maturity. If u are lucky enough to see them get 2-3'- which I think u would be... By the time they are 4-5' they are going to get rubbed so bad that 1-2 years later u'll be back to dead trees or resprouting from the bases. If u r gonna go wide open- I'd do stuff like maybe some shrubs & cedars or do a direct seeding that's so thick it's mind boggling where later u can thin what the critters don't. So- I'm going to make some assumptions here and end this with- just protect & baby em. Oh- u r gonna wanna use herbicides in a variety of ways and needs depending on what u do. No way will seedlings do well in thick nasty thatches of brome & fescue. They'll either get choked out or grow so slow & stunted it would be kinda pointless. A few exceptions but surely not with oaks, etc.
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Forestryguy
Member
I would do away with the tree tubes, unless you can clean them out (twice a year), re-stake them and keep the raccoon from tearing them up. You would have better luck burning the site down so that broad leaf weeds can hide the trees from the deer. Once the trees are bigger you can protect them from rubbing with wire cages that are big enough that the limbs will not become a tangled mess in them, or just let them go hope they are not all rubbed to death.
There are a lot of different scenarios and ways to accomplish what you want. Some times it is just luck and others it is planned luck. One of the biggest things is to get your deer numbers down so they do not just mow them off in the winter. A trees best friend against a deer is a firearm.
There are a lot of different scenarios and ways to accomplish what you want. Some times it is just luck and others it is planned luck. One of the biggest things is to get your deer numbers down so they do not just mow them off in the winter. A trees best friend against a deer is a firearm.
I had 52 acres of tree plantings on my old 824 acre farm. The previous owner had put them in maybe 5-7 years before I bought it. I spent 2 years doing weed control & various protection to rescue some that remained. Most were extremely stunted and the good quality oaks especially, even 500 yards from the main timber were rubbed to heck. I was able to save an immense amount but I spent a solid week doing it the 1st year I started assessing things & fixing them. That's 52 acres of tree plantings at around 700-ish trees per acre. Finding an untouched tree was pretty tough. Yes, tree tubes have their down sides. If it were ME, I'd rather do 100 trees with some sort of cages around them & eventually some screen around bottom to keep rabbits & mice away & keep them clean of weeds for several years. I'd rather do 100 like that than 1,000 thrown out at random to fend for themselves. You generally could make a cage with some wire (one of many options to protect) & a t post or 2 (which I pull from around the farm - free. Could have a tree caged in probably 2 minutes.
Less trees done right VS more trees left to chance? I've seen it so many times my head spins.... do it right. It's a shame how many tree plantings I've seen go to crap. If I had to guess?!?!?????..... I'm gonna say 70-80% of tree plantings I've seen have massive mistakes. Everything from not doing them right to begin with but far more often, making mistakes for the very important 5-10 years following. Letting them go, whatever, never watching weeds, never checking back on protection, never watering if it's a drought year, never watching for pests/bugs/disease, letting tubes fall over, WHATEVER. Seen too many scenarios where guys would have been better off tossing $100 bills out the car window for the day - at least that would be some fun.
Less trees done right VS more trees left to chance? I've seen it so many times my head spins.... do it right. It's a shame how many tree plantings I've seen go to crap. If I had to guess?!?!?????..... I'm gonna say 70-80% of tree plantings I've seen have massive mistakes. Everything from not doing them right to begin with but far more often, making mistakes for the very important 5-10 years following. Letting them go, whatever, never watching weeds, never checking back on protection, never watering if it's a drought year, never watching for pests/bugs/disease, letting tubes fall over, WHATEVER. Seen too many scenarios where guys would have been better off tossing $100 bills out the car window for the day - at least that would be some fun.
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Forestryguy
Member
I agree Sligh. There are many plantings that are failures due to lack of commitment. There are many ways to skin a cat. I would say that a lot more information is needed from site to site to determine what course should be taken to make a successful planting.