How to Protect Your Trees from Deer Damage

As we look toward the fall and plant new trees, I want to remind you that if you have any signs of deer in your neighborhood, you will want to protect all your trees from deer damage.  Protect all newly planted and existing trees. Trees with a 4-inch trunk diameter and smaller usually get the worst hit from the wrath of a buck deer.

During the night, one deer can come thru your yard and destroy every tree you have planted by rubbing his antlers on the tree trunks. And in most cases, the damage is so severe, the trees either die or never fully recover. And this year, they seem a bit earlier than usual and have already started rubbing trees!

How do you protect your trees from Deer?

Here are a few tree-saving tips:

• Plastic tree trunk wraps/protectors
• Poultry wire cages around the tree trunks
• Wrapping the tree’s trunks with paper tree wrap
• Using 4-inch perforated drain pipe, cut to fit over the trunk from the ground to the bottom tree branch
• Driving three metal stakes in a triangle pattern around the tree trunk – deer usually won’t mess with the metal stake barriers.
• Applying deer repellents as added protection (DeerScram, Repels All, Liquid Fence, or Milorganite as a fertilizer/deer repellent).

If you have existing trees that may become a buck deer’s rubbing post, you need to get them protected right away. What about newly planted trees? After your finish planting, immediately put a tree trunk protector on your tree.

I still remember one Saturday, a neighbor planting three trees in their yard and coming out on Sunday morning to see deer rubs had destroyed all three tree trunks. Don’t let it happen to your trees!

Have more questions, email us @ questions@natorp.com.

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