(Click on image to enlarge)Caught you in the act! Our Cuddeback Trail Cams snapped a shot at a deer eating a seedling as it emerges from a 3ft Plantra O-style Tree Tube.
We had installed an array of tubes, from 2ft up to 5ft in height, to show the importance of taller in tubes in preventing deer browse. Keep in mind: in a 1/2 mile long section of hedgerow, these are the only three tubes that are shorter than 5ft... and it didn't take the deer long to find them and start nibbling the emerging trees.
Years ago when we first introduced treeshelters to the USA from Europe 4ft tubes were considered to be the standard for deer browse protection (they didn't offer complete protection, but browsing above the tube tended to be minimal and the tree was established enough to recover and keep growing). Nowadays there are many sites, including this one in west central Minnesota, where deer keep trees mowed off at the top of the tube if you use anything shorter than a 5ft tree tube.
Landowners doing a new planting often face a budgetary choice: Should I protect fewer trees with 5ft tubes, or more trees with shorter tubes. To resolve this quandry, ask yourself the question: What is the minimum number of trees I need to establish per acre or per X feet of windbreak in order to be successful? Then I would protect that number with 5ft Plantra Tree Tubes. If you determine that baseline success number and budget limitations prevent you from using 5ft tree tubes, the I would protect as many seedlings as I can with shorter tubes. Then, when they grow out of the top, you can treat them with Deer Guard deer repellent to protect them until the grow through the browse line.
We'd like to thank this doe for unwittingly helping us illustrate the importance of 5ft tree tubes!
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