I had some bucks rubbing my young trees as well. I emailed David Vernon thinking he’d recommend getting new trees. Instead, this was his response:
YES. But wrap the entire damaged area with regular masking tape immediately. Wrap it around and around the trunk that is damaged. It will heal very nicely under the tape and the tape will break apart by itself in 12 months. Leave no gaps.
Do not use other types of tape.
Original post here.
Yours does look worse than mine but I would give it a shot. The painter’s masking tape is extra wide. Makes the job go quicker if you have a lot of trees to do this on. I used the plain beige tape, as per David’s instructions.
I’ve also surrounded my trees with tomato cages.