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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

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Fishin'Rod we use the stinky spray product called Liquid Fence. It has a putrid smell of rotten eggs that can protect from deer and rabbit munching for up to a month. We buy a quart of the concentrate and mix it with water, then fill a spray bottle. Dousing the perimeter of an area seems to keep the deer and rabbits out of the area; spraying the individual plants also works well.

I'd imagine regular use of this will help quite a bit. Then again, you might have to use several other techniques, too, like the castor oil. I can't imagine dousing the trees with castor oil solution will damage the trees at all. Some people have had success keeping the gnawing mammals away by placing human hair in their burrows.

Good luck. Let us know what works and what doesn't.

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4C,

Thanks for the advice.

Went to their website. Deer & Rabbit repellent contains putrescent eggs and garlic.

Mole & Armadillo repellent contains castor oil.

The All-Purpose (for small mammals) contains two kinds of mint oils, along with a little castor oil and garlic.

It looks like I am on the right track!

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My list of things that DOES NOT work is very long!

Started with 5' tree tubes. A few trees managed to just make it out of the top after the first year. However, I would later notice the top growth broken over. I was trying to figure out what kind of bird could possibly have done that.

The next spring, lots of trees went past 5'. Then I noticed main leaders broken over, or just disappeared. I finally figured out that I probably didn't have any giant birds on the farm, so I set up a game camera.

Here is a small buck in May checking out the tasty tree top.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com</div>
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<div class= Last edited by FishinRod; 08/29/21 11:29 PM.
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Here he is a few moments later. Standing on his back legs eating a tree top that is approximately six feet off the ground.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com</div>
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The deer around here do that also, had to put a wire cage around the pecan trees large enough to keep them from tearing off the limbs still ongoing problem.....they ate my dogwood trees completely.... rascals

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Also sprayed deer and rabbit spray on rose bush and that seemed to work... so far

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We had deer muddying up a small pond in our back yard a few years back. I bought a motion-activated water sprinkler and that did the trick.

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I am having to put wire rings around any tree that I don't want destroyed by rubbing bucks, I did put a decoy tree up for them in my greenfield last year, dug up a cedar about 5" in diameter and planted it in the edge of the greenfield, kept a camera on it, it was amazing how many deer, bucks and does, came by and used it for a rubbing their antlers on and then also the edge of it for a scrape where the whipped up the branches just over their head and scraped up a big patch of dirt, urinating in it. it was interesting how much they used it. ten thousand trees on the property but this one got massacred. I had to tie it up by the end of the year.


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Pat,

Was your effective spray also the type with the rotten egg smell?

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gehajake,

I have started protecting all trees that go past 5'. However, I am doing barbed wire with 4 t-posts because I still have to weed and prune the trees and repair drip emitters that good chewed up etc.

It is a fair bit of effort and cost to do it that way. Do you have a good wire ring design that I could make semi-removable for when I need to work directly on the tree base area?

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RAH,

Did you have any rodents going after your new plums and pawpaws? If so, what was your response?

Did they ever go after your Christmas tree plantings? What response did you utilize at the commercial tree-raising scale?

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I wound up taking like a woven wire and making about a 40" circle with it but instead of setting it on the ground I put tee posts on both sides of the tree directly inline with the tree trunks and tied the wire to them but about 30" off the ground so that I can mulch mow or other maintenance around the base of the trees. I will attach a picture that has them in the background you might be able to sorta make it out, as you can tell I have neglected mowing for several weeks and weeds and grass grew up fast. by keeping the posts in line with the trunks it allows me to mow in a straight line past them and leaves very minimal weed eating, raising it up off the ground it makes them taller to keep them from chewing on the tops as much.
I also have short sections of corrugated pipe split and stuck around the base to keep rabbits from chewing on them in winter, the whole thing has worked great so far. Hope that gives you a general idea. Good Luck!

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Thanks gehajake.

I was thinking about weld wire on the ground with one t-post. I like your idea much better! The weld wire "collar" is up in the air so I will seldom have to move it to work on the tree. It will also be much lighter to handle when I do have to move them. (Two t-posts is also better than the four required for a true fence.)

In hindsight, what do you think of the 40" diameter? (see discussion below)

In addition to the deer, I also have to fight a terrible wind problem once the trees get more than 18" above the top of the tube. (Central Kansas is very windy, and I have planted some of the trees out in the open at least a 1/4 mile from the nearest shelter belt.) I am hoping your "collar" idea will also work in a similar fashion to the high straps on 8' t-posts that I have installed to prevent wind damage. I just need to determine the optimum size of collar to prevent the wind from bending over the main leader while also minimizing damage to the bark due to the constant buffeting.

Finally, did any rodents smaller than rabbits get under your corrugated pipe sections? I pulled a tree tube on Saturday to weed and a vole hopped out and looked ready to fight me! I am sure her babies were nearby. I shooed her to the edge of the mulch and then saw that one of her burrows came up INSIDE of my tree tube. I have also had pocket gopher burrows come up inside the tubes. I think stinky sprays are probably my best defense against those rodents, unless anyone has any better ideas!

Last edited by FishinRod; 08/30/21 11:01 AM. Reason: Edited for a typo.
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I use Triazicide granules in Mrs. Augie's flowerbeds, around the woodpile, outbuildings, etc. Powerful stuff.
Don't use around anything you might want to eat later.

~$60/40lbs on amazon

Your local farm co-op might have a better option if you're needing to treat acreage.

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If your "varmints" have 6 legs, than an insecticide is a good choice. Just follow label instructions.

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Thanks Augie and RAH.

I don't think I have ever seen any significant damage from six-legged varmints or their insect larval stages.

The "insect" damage was only secondary due to the armadillos burrowing for the insects and grubs.

I would prefer NOT to use an insecticide. However, if my castor oil only works as a deterrent for 10 days and the insecticide lasts for an entire season, then the choice is easy.

Augie, how often do you have to treat with the Triazicide for Mrs. Augie's flowerbeds to survive from the spring through the fall?

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I think the 40 in circle is relative to what kind of tree you are protecting, that seemed to work for me at the time, Ive had them up for a couple yrs now, at first that was pretty big for the young fruit trees that I was protecting but they have grown into them and above them, which allows for deer to browse on them actually but not necessarily hurt their growth much, as for wind, I am in a little couple acre clearing greenfield so I don't get wind damage much, that would be something else to consider in your case, but even with some wind, as long as the branches are within the main cage it will sort of protect the trunk from getting beat up and damaged to much, young trees tend to be pretty resilient and take a good bit of punishment.
I haven't had too much damage from voles and don't have gophers in this area although armadillos are just starting to be a little more common in the area, I did have something probably a vole or mole tear up around the base of them pretty bad late last fall, I guess there were a good bit of grubs and such under the mulch but none of them seemed to be effected by them, they all came out and did great this spring.


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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.

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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!

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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

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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.

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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.[/quote]

Its almost comical from Sep. on around here, Ive seen brand new, high dollar houses built around here, plant some expensive well started, 2"+ dia fancy trees in their yards and the bucks love them, they will shred them in one night, They have a million trees in the woods but they pick the ones in somebody's landscaped manicured yard.


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Originally Posted by FishinRod
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!


If you want to go the nematode route now is the time to acquire your product. Sept-Oct is the perfect time for applying the treatment.

Arbico Organics is the outfit that I use for earth/food friendly pest management solutions.

https://www.arbico-organics.com/category/beneficial-nematodes

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Augie,

Thanks for the link and additional discussion.

Prior to your input, I had never even heard of beneficial nematode treatments! (I think I will try some in the future when the fruit trees start bearing.)

For now, I will try the Triazicide granules on a few trees and monitor the results.

(I had previously commented about NOT wanting to use an insecticide, but I am very "pro" chemicals. However, most of my work at the farm is just above the 100-year floodplain, so I am very careful to keep the creek as clean as possible.)

I never dig right at the base of the new trees so as not to cut any roots. Of course, that means I never encounter any grubs or cutworms, so I didn't think I had an insect problem. You accurately predicting June Bugs from a state away is pretty convincing evidence that I do have some insect problems! The armadillos further confirm your analysis.


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