Damn rabbits!

A new creature has shown up in my orchard and chewed 5 of my apple trees. Three of them bad enough that I will probably lose them. I’m scrambling to catch it as I protect my trees with plastic piping. Anything I can order that I can catch or kill this thing with. I have a have a heart cage already.

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Pellet Gun!

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I have one of those also. It’s tough to sneak up on them.

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Don’t waste time fighting them they will win that battle and you can do that later. Get guards on ASAP Living with the cottontail and growing fruit

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I never plant a fruit tree without using 3’ aluminum window screen for rodents and a 5’ woven or welded wire cage for deer. Get the trunks protected by the end of the day

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Yes I’m doing that also.

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Black plastic is better than nothing, but I’ve had voles/mice climb them and girdle trees before.

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John if you get those guards on before dark you’ll be in great shape. I’m sorry to see that damage on your trees.

I saw one out by my trees this week in my raspberries, ironically I think I have made a small haven for them in my thorny berry patch

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Out of curiosity, are your trees in town/city, suburbia, or out in the country?

I buy this black heavy plastic netting at Home Depot. Works like a charm. The only time it did not work was winter before last in New England, where we had ten feet of snow and the rabbits could eat the bark above the netting.

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Yes when time allows I’m going to make something else, possibly some hardware cloth mesh.

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Suburbia, Cape Cod Massachusetts. I’ve been dreading their arrival for years haha.

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You may not loose that. I had the same damage on a tree last year. Came back ok. Chicken wire works too. Put a weather proof mouse block inside the tube to control voles and mice.

My wooden box rabbit trap was tripped today when I got home but the door didn’t quite close. I will have to do some fine tuning on the trigger stick. I had it sitting nestled in the middle of my raspberry canes,

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John,
Sorry for the damage.
How tall is the black tube? I saw a bunny stood on its two legs munching on whatever it could reach.

I am wooried about my trees, too. I ran out of plastic white spirals. Not all my young trees are protected.

All my trees were painted white. Hope it can fool the bunnies.

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I use the exact same stuff that @mrsg47 uses and it’s very economical. You can get a 100’ roll that is 48" tall for about $15. I slit it down the middle and make 18-24" tree guards depending on how low my first scaffold is. I normally make mine about 5-6" in diameter. The reason I prefer it to corrugated plastic pipe is because I can see through it easily and can leave it on all year long.

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How big is the mesh on that black plastic mesh? Looks to me like a vole could go right through there?

If girdling is 180 degrees or less consider bridge grafting over the girdle at bark slip next spring. I saved two ten year old apple trees about half girdled. It’s tedious but satisfying when it works. Cut some long flexible first year wood this winter, the more flexible the better and store like scions in frig. Do bark grafts above and below girdle. I put two small nails (escutcheon pins) in each graft and cover with Doc Farwell. Build a bow in to each scion. Good luck.

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I’ll look into that