There are many ways in which animals can damage trees:
* Leaves can be browsed during the growing season, or buds and twigs
chewed off during the winter.
holly-damage-by-deer
* Bark can be stripped, normally during winter and spring, when
other food is scarce. If bark is removed all the way around the
stem, the tree will die, because the bark is needed to transport
the water and food to the whole tree (in the phloem and xylem.)
* The main shoot is eaten, so the tree will not grow straight, &
will start to branch and bush out.
Guards are used to protect young trees from rabbits & other animals
spiral-tree-guard
Made from a special plastic that will stand up to animals, weather and
strimmers etc.
These are designed to protect young trees against bark-stripping by
rabbits and voles. Quick and simple to install, being simply wound
around the stem of the tree. Push the end into the ground around the
base of the tree, to lessen the chance of the wind or animals dislodging it.
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Trish from birdtablenews asked:
We planted 30 veg plants this year – cabbage, cauliflower etc. We put mesh over the plants. The rabbits stood on top of the mesh and ate the plants through the wire mesh!! We did not find out until it was too late. Someone saw them early one morning. Have you any advice for next year because although it’s a bit funny it’s also a bit disheartening to have 30 small plants eaten by rabbits. They could not get under the garden mesh so they ate from above!!
This is a terrible situation. One of TopVeg’s objectives is return on effort. To have all your veg eaten off after the effort of preparing the soil and planting, is too much.
- The only way to beat the rabbits is to dig some rabbit netting in around the entire plot. This is expensive – but will last a few years.
- Container gardening is another solution – if the containers are lifted high enough that the rabbits can’t get in. This also solves the slug problem – if the containers are on slippery poles that the slugs cannot climb.
- Scarecrows really work – according to soilman!
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