We knew when we moved here that we wanted to plant an orchard. We dreamed of growing and harvesting our own apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, and plums. However, we learned very quickly that there are a lot of deer around. And after a lot of reading and research, we learned that deer love baby trees and if we didn’t take some precautions, our little saplings probably wouldn’t survive. Darn it, why does gardening have to be so hard sometimes! Keep reading to see what we did to protect the young trees in our orchard!
Supplies needed
- Desired trees, soaked and ready to be planted according to package directions
- Concrete wire roll, about 13 feet needed per tree
- Wire cutters
- Rebar posts
- Twisty ties
- Stakes
- Shovel
- Tree mats
- Mulch
- Plastic spiraled tree trunk guards
The Plan
You are basically going to create a protective cage around the trees. You want the trees to have a nice perimeter around them that is tall enough and strong enough that the deer can’t get to them.
This is the video we watched and it explains the method of how to protect young trees really well! You can watch it here.
How to assemble tree cages and protect young trees!
Step 1:
Choose desired location for your trees and space at least 20 feet apart. You want to leave plenty of room for your trees to grow. You also want to pick a location that has good drainage. The area that we chose for our orchard is in the middle of a grassy area just below our garden space. So we also had to trim the grass down super low in the areas where we were planning on planting. Charlie just did that with the trimmer.
Step 2:
Dig the holes as indicated on the tree instructions. This will be different depending what size of tree you get. Usually, you just need enough space to spread the roots. The trees we got were only about 4 feet tall. The holes we dug were about 18 inches deep and 12 inches wide.
Step 3:
Put a little bit of mulch in the bottom of the hole and then place tree in the center of the hole, carefully spreading out the roots. Spread more mulch around and above roots, securing tree in place. Cover up the rest of the hole with the original dirt that you dug up. Press down firmly with your hands or lightly with your feet.
Step 4:
Next, you are going to want to put the tree mats around the tree. Spread out and then cover with mulch. Cut plastic tree trunk guards to the appropriate size for your tree and carefully place around the trunk. Then, hammer a rebar post into the ground about three feet away from the tree. These can be difficult to get into the ground. We used a fence post driver to do this.
Step 5:
This next step is easier with another set of hands. Luckily, we had all of our kids out eager to help plant the trees on a lovely spring evening. If you have not already cut the wire to the appropriate length, you will need to do that. Use either hand wire cutters or a saw. After cutting them, be very careful around the sharp ends of wire. I’ve cut myself before.
The wire will naturally curl into a circle because of it being in a roll already so that is why it is handy to have someone helping you. Starting with one end next to the rebar, place the wire around the tree, ending with the other end back at the rebar. Use twisty ties to secure one side of wire fence to post. Make sure and leave one end unattached so that you can access the tree as needed.
We created a little loop with a twisty tie that is connected to one side of the fence and loops over the top of the post. The wire kind of overlaps each other and is held in place with the looped tie at the top. Nothing can get in unless the loop is slid off and the fencing is stretched open. We also put in a small garden stake on the opposite side of the post to help the fencing stay in place and keep its shape.
Step 6:
Repeat process with remaining trees. Water the trees thoroughly according to tree directions! Then clean up and stand back to enjoy your work. Beautifully protected trees. Free to grow, safe from the stinker deer. 🙂
**We bought our little trees from Stark Bros Nursery and Orchards. This website was recommended to us by a friend. It has a great selection and they ship right to your house. The trees we chose arrived with bare roots which we then soaked for a few hours before planting.
Good luck!
~Rachel