Tree Savers

I have before but what are you protecting them from?

I've used them to keep bucks from rubbing on the trees in our yard.

Used sprint car tires work well also, if you know someone who might have a few of those laying around.

I prefer to simply use wire cages. I have read issues with using tree tubes of various types and I have heard that using "field tile" like you mention is a big issue because of the heat that they hold.

Depending on how big your trees is this is what I do:

When I plant a bare root tree or even a 3 gallon tree. I get a roll or welded wire fence from my local farm retail store. I want it to be 5 feet tall and I tend to get it in 50 or a 100 foot roll. I cut the fence into a 6' length. I then create a cage that will be roughly 2 feet in diameter (I can explain the math if needed). I like a smaller diameter cage because I want the tree to grow UP and not out. So a narrow cage will promote this as the deer will nip off anything that reaches beyond the cage. I plant the tree. I place a 3 foot square piece of landscape cloth (not plastic) on the ground and put the tree in the center of it by cutting one side from the center outward (sort of like the old X-mas tree skirts). I use a couple ground staples and secure the fabric. I then use a piece of metal window screen or hardware cloth to create a much smaller cage to enclose the trunk of the tree. I make mine about 18" tall if I can. The height of this depends on how much snow you get as this is to keep mice and voles and the like from chewing on the bark. You want this firmly against the ground as well. I then add gravel (I just take some from a stream) and place it over the landscape cloth. Do NOT use mulch as it will allow critters to get under it and they will chew off the support roots of your tree. Place the larger cage over the tree and secure it with 1 or 2 metal "T" posts. I use bailing wire to fasten the cage to the posts and you want to do it in a way that you can undo later as you will need to remove the cage at some point for pruning and the like. DONT FORGET TO TAG YOUR TREE. You WILL forget what variety it is or when you planted it. Buy a set of cheap punches from Harbor freight and use aluminum beer/soda cans to make cheap tags.

As the tree grows you will have to increase the size of the trunk protection. Once the lowest branches of your tree are above the 5 foot tall cage then you can remove the smaller trunk cage and reduce the diameter of the 5 foot tall cage to make it your new trunk cage. Prune the tree as needed to promote it growing skyward and not outward.

This all ensures your tree will get plenty of light, plenty of air circulation and your tree will grow strong roots because it will be exposed to the wind. Many tree tubes shelter trees from the wind and thus end up very week and can lack the strength to support themselves well. Tree tubes also tend to become homes for mice and wasps...the mice will eat the bark off your tree and coons will go after the wasps.

It's a PITA to protect a tree properly and it isn't cheap if your doing many of them...but my experience has been you either do it right the first time or you find the time and money to do it twice....or you just feed the deer! I typically figure if I'm planting a $20 or $30 tree - it's worth the investment to protect it. I will say that even this method isn't 100%... I have a chestnut tree that a buck hooked his antler into and removed the entire cage! Found it about 75 yards away. Then the deer in general proceeded to eat and rub my poor tree to a 18" tattered stick before I found out. The tree lived...but what started off as a nice 5 foot tree became a salvage project and was set back a few years. I threatened to kill the deer responsible, but he never showed!

Something else worth noting is you may need to water your tree the first year or two until it's good and established. I use a 5 gallon bucket and place it down in the cage. The bucket has a few 1/4 to 3/8 hole in the bottom of it. I then fill the bucket (I use my 3 point sprayer as a water truck) every couple of days thru the summer and this allows me to ensure the tree gets a good slow drink. The ground in the summer can get real hard and just dumping a bucket tends to allow most of the water to simply run-off and water weeds and the like that are fighting with your tree for moisture.

if your looking for a low dollar option - I have used old woven wire fence before for tree cages as well. Not as pretty or easy to work with, but...it can get the done done if your on a limited budget.

A tube will be better than nothing...   I limit my plantings in size because of the additional work I know it will take.


I am working on planting roughly 100 different shrubs and I know the work and $ I'll put into the cages will limit my enthusiasm.   As such I keep these projects smaller and then expand as opportunity allows.   For these shrubs I doubt I go "all out" on the cages....but I certainly will make hardware cloth cages for them to keep the nipping critters away from them.


I don't have clients to make happy either.    Good luck.

I don't have "clients" because of things like that.   You do what they want...right or wrong in your own mind...it doesn't matter.

I have a neighbor that lives in the city and came out to their property once and was "planting the next timber harvest in 50 years".   They was serious!   Yep...they had mismanaged that woodlot for as long as I lived there.   It was over-run with Jap bush honeysuckle and MFR.   They allowed a logger to come in and only harvest the high value trees and leave all the large junk trees so the canopy mostly remained.   Yet they was planting walnut trees in the woods to be harvested in 50 years.   Well...good luck with that...    I just walked away shaking my head.

I don't like the idea of black field tile, too hot in summer. Be better off just buying some tree tubes, or caging them. If you elect to cage, use something with tight enough mesh that the rabbits can't get in and chew bark off in winter.

I've planted about 40,000 trees on our place since we've been here. Anytime I did a large quantity, I rented a three point hitch tree planter. Two guys ride back there and feed the trees while one drives the tractor, you can plant about 1,000 trees per hour.

It's been about 5-6 years since getting them, I forget where I got them, but here's a place that has them.

www.plantra.com/Solid-Wall-Tree-Bark-Guard-_c_149.html