What is destroying my trees?

[Paul Smith]

What height are the guards? Deer will leave a ragged end as when they bite it they tear it of because they have no top incisors. Hares will leave a neat cut and will leave cuttings lying around.

 

Difficult to tell from the photos.

[Sam Thompson]

Or an envious neighbour ?

 

Haha, didn't think of that, but you might be right, there's nowt as queer as folk.

 

 

What height are the guards? Deer will leave a ragged end as when they bite it they tear it of because they have no top incisors. Hares will leave a neat cut and will leave cuttings lying around.

 

Difficult to tell from the photos.

 

No one believes this but I have seen deer nibbling on a tree, gone to look at it and it has been a clear cut. Its rather rude of them not reading what the books say.

 

 

Sand traps are good as the man says

[woody1]

Pictures 2 and 4 suggest that the little rascal has a pair of secateurs!

 

:lol:

[agg221]

Pictures 2 and 4 suggest that the little rascal has a pair of secateurs! Picture one looks like a fungal/bacterial attack on the leading shoot.

 

Erm, that's the cut at planned branching height:biggrin: In theory, the four or five buds below this would now be nice little shoots about 6in long. In practice, they were all nipped out cleanly when they reached about an inch long. and as soon as the trees start to recover they get nipped again.

 

Guards are about 18in high, damage is at heights of up to about 4ft6in.

 

Muntjac sounds very likely, sand traps are a really good idea. Anyone in my area with a rifle fancy some venison?

 

Alec

[John Russell]

Looks like deer. I use these, from this company. Not cheap -- but then neither are fruit trees.

 

Best wishes,

 

John Russell

 

PS: They're available up to 1.8 metres.

[Paul Smith]

If the damage is 4 1/2 foot it probably is not Muntjac although I have seen most species of deer stand on their back legs to browse.

 

Have you got Roe in the area?

 

Get a stealth cam(remote camera) and see what's doing the damage.

[Daniël Bos]

I found deer that browse trees like that usually do so because they try to balance a deficiency in their system.

 

 

It's normally a lead deficiency:lol: