deer damage

[10 Bears]

Corco,

 

Don't take this the wrong way, but what did you expect would happen when you planted trees without guards?

 

I presume you knew the deer were in the area beforehand (easy assumption to make as they are everywhere - literally). You no doubt knew they are transitory herbivores ie they wander about and eat vegetation. You could also work out that you were planting trees out at roughly head/browse height for deer.

 

So... the deer spot a nice new food/marking/fraying source and they then do what deer do. They eat, fray and mark your tree stock as you could have worked out in advance that this was very likely to happen.

 

Unfortunately you are paying the price for trying to do the establishment on the cheap. You say you have access to used tubes, it is not ideal to put them on after establishment, but you need to get the tubes on ASAP to protect your tree stock. You will also have to employ a stalker for a period of time (as you have already suggested) if this is a particularly bad problem. Tube up your oak as well in advance - don't wait for a problem there as the deer will simply move from one compartment to another as soon as the tubes are on the first group of trees.

 

Aside from deer there are of course rabbits to consider (depending on the size of your stock), and voles that cause ring-barking damage to establishing trees. Tubes protect from these as well.

 

So, you have reaped what you sowed, again quite literally! It shouldn't be too late to remedy the situation - but just get those tubes on ASAP and take the hit on the costs so you get the future benefits.

 

All the best.

[gooseflight]

Single stand electric fence or electric horse tape and spray with repellent.

[M Large Forestry Equipment]

10 Bears - Harsh, but fair. Having said that, we don't know how many trees there are, whether there was a deer population assessment done before planting, if Corco had any professional advice.

 

You're right though, it shouldn't be too late.

[Ninjastrike]

I would say cull the deer if don't want to spend money on fence or tree guards, I work in tree plantations everyday and in my area its the hares that are by far the worse for damage to trees.

[10 Bears]

Harsh, but fair.

 

You're probably right, but being harsh was unintentional!

 

I have tried to put my view of the situation over as a series of observations/expected behaviours leading to an almost inevitable conclusion.

 

I have had clients who would only pay for 0.75m tubes in areas where they knew there were red deer (more usual to use a 1.8m tube), despite my advice that there will be a problem.

 

When the inevitable happened, and the deer chewed the tops out of ~40% of the stock, they were astounded! (but I didn't say I told you so!)

 

My point was, if you think about what deer do, then think about what a nice new afforested area is - it shouldn't really be a surprise as to the outcome...

[timbernut]

What sort of deer are doing the damage? Don't know much about Irish deer distribution/population

[corco2000]

Damage would be less than 20%.

No not harsh advice at all. i got a grand for plantation

they didnt allow for fencing or guard. i didnt have money

to pay extra.

I like idea of planting new trees beside damaged ones.

I will do this with guards.

Cull going on as we speak. we have sitka deer. seems

like young deer doing damage.

Q. Will hazel recover....they ate few inches off tops?

Alders/birch they ate bark. id imagine they would

now be prone to disease.

No rabbit damage yet. just deer.

Thanks for advice once again

[headgroundsman]

Sika venison is superb. I wish I were near you I would help with the cull!

[Bogoak]

Damage would be less than 20%.

No not harsh advice at all. i got a grand for plantation

they didnt allow for fencing or guard. i didnt have money

to pay extra.

I like idea of planting new trees beside damaged ones.

I will do this with guards.

Cull going on as we speak. we have sitka deer. seems

like young deer doing damage.

Q. Will hazel recover....they ate few inches off tops?

Alders/birch they ate bark. id imagine they would

now be prone to disease.

No rabbit damage yet. just deer.

Thanks for advice once again

 

Hazel will be fine so long as it gets a chance to regrow. Circles of chicken wire will be cheaper than shrub shelter guards.

[matelot]

Single stand electric fence or electric horse tape and spray with repellent.

 

What type of spray and repellent are you talking about?

 

I've heard stories that deer don't like the smell of garlic and if you put a garlic clove in the hole when you're planting the tree it keeps the deer away. Anyone tried it?

 

I've also heard if you put human hair round the trees it keeps the deer away. Anyone tried it?