
Hi,
I planted about 75 new trees in our home orchard last spring and have been very busy this fall and hadnt gotten to putting plastic guards on them. We recently had a thaw out here (Maine) and most of the snow melted away and was wondering if it would do good now to put the plastic guards on? We have a lot of rodents in the fields and know there is already some damage to the bark on some trees....
Thanks for your help!
-Jeremiah

And if you’re up to another method … coat the trunks from the ground to a foot or two above with black roof patch or roofing tar. Sounds like an ecological disaster ~ but it’s worked excellent for me. It appears to keep nearly anything 'small' from chomping into the trunk, has never shown any sign of damage to my trees or trunks, ‘expands’ as the tree grows (which requires another coat if you’re still fearful), and can actually be ‘picked off’ in flakes to discard years down the road. …as long as your rodents aren’t Beavers " title="Wink" />
My experience with placing corrugated plastic tubing around fruit tree trunks was dismal… Mice, ants and earwigs will set up house where you can’t see them - and when placing or removing it there’s a serious chance of damaging the bark.
Do keep grass back as far as possible from the trunks, that’s where they hide. And watch for ‘vole holes,’ they’ll do-in the roots without touching the trunk above.
Idyllwild
simplepress
jafar
Marsha H
Viron
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