What can you tell me about caging trees?

[Chipdasqrrl]

So I think I’m gonna go with cages, I found a good deal on 6 foot tall chicken wire but I’m not sure how much to get. Can anyone tell me how much wire it will take to cage one tree?


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[weekender21]

I caged 14 pear trees today. I tubed them 2 years ago but wasn’t happy with them being in tubes long term. This is what most of them looked like.

View attachment 11580

Pro of tubes:

1) promote good growth
2) protect from deer
3) cheap/easy to install
4) offer protection when spraying herbicide

Cons:

1) trees grew too tall too fast. Wind made them all lean.
2) impossible to prune without removing tubes
3) fire-ants/pests build nests in tubes

I bought 100 feet of 60” welded wire from Tractor Supply and cut it into 7 foot sections. I bought 15 t-posts - 1 for each cage. I also bought a tree support material called ArborTie by a company called deep root:

http://www.deeproot.com

The plan was to remove the tubes and replace them with small diameter cages. I also planned on using the t-posts as support for the cages AND as anchors to straighten the trees using the Arbor Tie.

I’m happy to report that it was a success. I’m very pleased with the final product.

View attachment 11581

View attachment 11582


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Did you have any issues with deer browse on your pears while in the tube? They all look pretty good! I tubed ~30 wild deer pear from nativ last fall. I'm not looking forward to caging them all but expect I will need to either this summer or next.

 

[cutman]

Did you have any issues with deer browse on your pears while in the tube? They all look pretty good! I tubed ~30 wild deer pear from nativ last fall. I'm not looking forward to caging them all but expect I will need to either this summer or next.

The tubes did a good job of protecting the trees from the deer. I took a few tubes off to prune trees with fireblight and they were destroyed pretty much immediately through browse and rubbing.

 

[weekender21]

Thanks

That's interesting, I've been concerned than any tender shoots sticking out of the tube were going to pay the price!