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Thread Like Summary
gehajake, RAH
Total Likes: 5
Original Post (Thread Starter)
by FishinRod
FishinRod
I have started approximately 200 trees at our farm in central Kansas. They are mostly hybrid oak trees and various fruit trees. All are in tree tubes. (We don't live at the farm, so I usually work on the trees to take a break from repairing fences, clearing land for the future pond, etc.)

I have lost several trees to various critters. I believe some of the damage is unintentional, and some is directed.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! (On any of the topics.)

We have lots of dry periods too long for trees, so I have drip irrigation systems set up for most of the trees. We had a pretty bad drought last year and armadillos got a few trees. They are mostly insectivores. They burrowed around and under many of my trees. I believe my little wet "refuges" around each tree were the only places that insects were active during the drought. The armadillos were just following the insects.

I also have pocket gophers throughout the tallgrass prairie part of the farm. I think they mostly eat roots in my area. During the drought, my tree roots and the adjacent grasses and forbs (that caught some of my irrigation water) were the only things growing during the drought. The gophers killed several trees where they actually cut the roots, and killed others by having tunnels surrounding the tree and draining my water away from the roots.

I have weed fabric and mulch around some of the trees. I now have voles and mice burrowing under the fabric edges because it makes such a nice shelter. They have only girdled the base on one tree (during the winter), but I am worried they are going to do that more often as I increase their "shelters" around more trees.

The best solution I have researched so far is to spray diluted castor and surfactant on the ground around the trees. However, this only lasts a few weeks, and even less if there is a heavy rain. The theory is that the castor oil makes the roots unpalatable for the mice and gophers. Supposedly, it also makes the insects and grubs (that eat the roots) also unpalatable to the armadillos.

Can I spray the castor oil mixture directly on the basal trunk of the tree? (I would like my trees and roots to taste nasty.) Or is spraying oil on the base of small trees potentially damaging?

Any better ideas?

Thanks,
Fishin'Rod
Liked Replies
by FishinRod
FishinRod
Augie,

Thanks for following up on your insecticide treatments.

I said I didn't think I had any direct insect damage. However, this spring when I lifted the tree tubes to start weeding, I had a few tubes that had a hundred? June Bug husks inside!

I have some oak trees that have not died, but have also not thrived. Your advice leads me to speculate that I HAVE had some insect damage. A bunch of June Bug grubs feeding on the roots cannot be good for tree growth.

Further, a hundred grubs would certainly be attractive enough to justify some serious armadillo burrowing. I think I am going to have to add some insecticide to my "tree care" kit.

I will now be hauling castor oil, Triazicide, Roundup, Crossbow (for poison ivy), and Pathway (nasty stuff for Honey Locust) on my trips to the farm.

If you guys hear that a drunk driver hit FishinRod's truck on the highway, please call a hazmat team right after you call 911. cry
2 members like this
by Augie
Augie
No bugs in your tree roots = no reason for half-shell possum to dig in your tree roots.

I treat twice a year - once in the spring, and then again in the fall.

If your area is badly infested with japanese beetles it would be worth researching Milky Spore treatment.
The commercially available pheremone traps are very effective for getting rid of mass quantities of JBs before they can reproduce.
Toss the piddly collection bags that come with the trap and funnel the vermin into 50 gallon drums or big plastic garbage cans.

If you've just got junebugs and other native beetle species look at nematode treatment for an environmentally-friendly approach to grub control.
1 member likes this
by FishinRod
FishinRod
gehajake,

Thanks for the additional info. I don't mind the branches getting beaten up a little in the collar (or even deer browsed). It is the damage to the main leader that hurts, or even kills, a tree.

I think I will split some ruined garden hoses and strap them to the top edge of the collars. That should give a gentler bearing surface for when the wind bends the tree top over onto the top edge of the collar. I may even have some ruined 4" corrugated drain tile. That would be ugly but round!
1 member likes this
by Pat Williamson
Pat Williamson
Originally Posted by FishinRod
gehajake,

Thanks for the additional info. I don't mind the branches getting beaten up a little in the collar (or even deer browsed). It is the damage to the main leader that hurts, or even kills, a tree.

I think I will split some ruined garden hoses and strap them to the top edge of the collars. That should give a gentler bearing surface for when the wind bends the tree top over onto the top edge of the collar. I may even have some ruined 4" corrugated drain tile. That would be ugly but round!

Geha that’s what we do this time of year to any tree that we don’t want rubbed by bucks. Especially pines at 1”-1-1/2” dia. They killed a live oak and countless pines that we we’re trying to get established.
1 member likes this
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