Mostly want to complain! Even though it’s my fault for leaving the fence open or not secure enough.
I had 21 grafted apple trees, in pots, in a fenced off space. They were mostly on dwarfing rootstock, G.214, B.9. Also, a couple on EMLA.111.
I must have left the fence open overnight a few days ago. Deer got in and ate every leaf off every tree.
I had planned to put them in the ground before winter, but was waffling. Now I guess I might as well since they’ve got no leaves - they’re not going to lose their leaves from transplant shock are they?
I suppose they’ll either live through this or they won’t. I’ll try to keep them well watered, especially because we’re supposed to have a crazy heat wave next week with 90 degree weather. Excellent timing for transplanting trees.
Of course, the spot I was going to put them in wasn’t quite ready,… So I ended up having to take down a 40 foot tall and 50 foot tall walnut tree, so I had to sharpen the chainsaw,…
What’s the opposite of “If you give a mouse a cookie”? If I want to do thing D, I need to do C first, which means I need to do B first, which means I need to do A first?
Got the tree down early in the week, finally getting to putting the trees in but needed a break - so here are pictures with one of the big walnut trees in the background:
Something was eating the leaves on my trees earlier this year too. So frustrating. It set back the growth of the trees. All those trees put out a new flush of growth within a few weeks.
I put fine fruit netting over my young trees and the biting stopped completely. Wish I had done it earlier. I now know to do it next year.
Ugh, last year I had rabbits eat all my grafts down to the rootstock after I trusted a plastic fence too much, so I have lots of empathy. Hoping at least some of your trees make it!
Archery Season : Oct. 3 - Nov. 13 & Dec. 13 - Jan 2
Muzzleloader: Oct 31 - Nov. 13 & Dec 12- Jan 2
Firearms: Nov. 14 - Jan. 2
The wildlife officer told me that we’re considered a county that has too many deer on private land and too few on public land. So they’ve increased private land firearms season the last couple years.
My county harvested more deer than any other in Virginia the last two years, but you wouldn’t know it from the number of deer you see. Nearly every day I see a new one that has been killed by cars on my road.
We do have coyotes and apparently they do eat fawns. But it seems they can only eat so many. It’s very different from living in the west where the ranchers were really bothered by wolves and coyotes. And coyotes were a nuisance animal in town when I lived in Irvine CA.
The coyotes here are bigger but no one is bothered by them. I guess they get enough to eat with all the deer who are easy pickings.
I went to look to see if there are stats on how many coyotes we have and didn’t find that info. However, I did find that eastern coyotes didn’t arrive in Virginia until the 1980’s and that they’re hybrids with grey wolves, eastern wolves, and domestic dogs which is quite interesting.
Nightmare. Deer are absolutely relentless when they find a way in. The silver lining is that dwarfing rootstocks tend to push new growth pretty quickly once they’re in the ground and established. Getting them planted might actually be the kick they need after that kind of stress.
I think your trees will mostly survive. Even if some don’t leaf out at all this year I wouldn’t give up. I had an Asian pear I grafted a year ago that randomly defoliated mid summer. Didn’t leaf out at all last year and I was surprised to see it leaf out this year(I thought it died). I accidentally knocked off its leaves this spring when I removed a cage around it and it leafed out again. It’s a bit stunted compared to what it should be but it’s alive. I moved it to a pot a month ago and it’s doing well.
I have other young trees that defoliated and recovered.
Just keep them hydrated and they should be okay
I think coyotes historically were rare in the eastern US. Wolves used to be common but after they were wiped out they left an opening that coyotes eventually took, with help from some wolf dna.
They’re pretty secretive though. They are in my town but I only see one every other year.
Thank you for the newfound awareness of said book which makes a principle so easy to understand!
Those of us cursedblessed with a similar analytical nature know that experience well! Until everything is figured out and the last domino is in place the first one cannot be addressed. Some days, man, some days.
I love seeing coyotes and would much rather have them on my property than the deer. I’ve been blessed to have several live coyote sightings in the last two years. A week and a half ago I got my first sighting in full daylight, seeing one run across a field, then stop and observe in preparation of jumping a wooden fence. I really wish that I had a dash camera to be able to capture things like that and the N.C. Wyeth clouds preceding the sunset yesterday.
I think coydogs are very rare. Coyotes and dogs have different social structures so mating between the two (or between coyotes and wolves) would be rare. Much more likely to get into a fight, or if one has a toy dog, they can be taken as prey by coyotes.
Hopefully as coyotes increase they will bring more balance to the excess of deer
They are. Coyotes come in heat during colder months. But with Coyotes moving in closer to rural and suburban homes; hybrid crosses are becoming something more then a rarity. More like uncommon I’d say. Almost always female coyotes and male dogs.
Excellent timing for transplanting trees.
Until everything is figured out and the last domino is in place the first one cannot be addressed. Some days, man, some days.