My orchards are knee deep in snow right now. I don’t have any pics on my computer, but I pulled these off the interwebs. 
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My voles are relentless. First I bought sound and vibration tube. No help. Then I got a vole spray. After that I got some poison pellets. Next I tried exhaust fumes from my Cushman. Then I actually poured gasoline and tossed in a match. No kidding. You can’t make this stuff up. Now I’ve have come full circle. I went on you tube and saw a guy setting mouse traps on top of holes baited with peanut butter then covered with a pot. I’ve caught my first two. But only after I baited about 15. I see their tunnels. They head straight for my tree roots sometimes they head for the 2 x 4 holding up a birdhouse. I get a kick out of that. I have to find something to laugh about. They make me so mad.
I use tree tubes. But they are not without problems.
I think the pros outweigh the cons.
One issue I haven’t seen mentioned in this discussion concerns bears. Wasps often make nests in the tubes and bears will tear them apart to get at the larvae often destroying the tree in the process.
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I have to admit I had not considered a screen type cover. I have been trying to use hardware cloth which is somewhat difficult to bend and close together. I had back surgery late this year. Does this keep them away? Do you think the plastic/pea gravel also helps? Do you have to go below the soil line? Im worried about my tree roots, as the voles dont come out so much and their burrow path leads underground to my trees. I did convert to pea gravel closest to my trees to discourage multiple pests.
Good idea about the tall rebar. Dangerous and can get caught up in blades, etc. Not necessarily easy to keep track of in a yard if a person is often dragging multiple things around, wire, string. Also had not considered the auger/drill for the same, although I have used it to plant multiple whips on a long dry stretch that runs along my property and is quite sloped.
So just bumping this back up.
I am trying to decide what is best here ?
Thinking of going with ; 5 ft
Mirical tubes or tree pro with a 1/2 in. Pvc electric conduit as the stake.
Then a friend suggested Plantra brand with fiberglass stake.
Does anyone have experience / comments ?
About these choices? Benefits/ disadvantage s of either ?
Or other suggestions?
Time to decide soon.
I haven’t tried the Plantra tubes.
The Miracle tubes I’ve used seem fine. After three years I’ve cut the perforated strip on each one to be able to access inside for pruning and to clean them out each winter. They’re not showing any signs of breaking down yet.
I really like the pvc for a stake.
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Some things I have learned.
Mirical tubes are shipped nested together -5 tubes
A 3.5 in" one inside – largest is 4.8 in"
Since they are shipped round , shipping $ is higher , because of the bulk. But may be stronger? Quicker to install.
Tree pro is shipped flat, so cheeper $ shipping.
They are~4.2 in" more time to install.
But you can open the seam to inspect , ( grafts , etc)
Plantra is also shipped flat.
It has been suggested, to use a~ 1 inch x 48 inch steel pipe with a cap threaded on one end as a "driver “for the 1/2 inch PVC electric conduit stake. This keeps the stake from flexing as it is driven , and 4ft driver on a 5 ft stake puts you 1 ft I the ground.
Also , was suggested that a 3 ft circle free of weeds around the tube in the fall will reduce mice nesting.
And…” One moth ball per tube "in the fall, discourages nesting.
Still looking for other comments here, need to decide soon…
Flat with seam ? …/ vs./ round ? Brands ? Cheep good stake ideas etc.
My favorite tree tubes are the ones I have been able to find on Craig’s List for a dollar a piece (any variety).
That being said the ones I like the best are the Plantra . The only disadvantage is the price. I like the fiberglass staking system. I have not had any “leggy” trees with this system when the tube is removed. The tubes are vented and I think this in conjunction with the flexible stake allows for more swaying of the tree. I have not had issues with growing trees with compound leaves in the plantra tubes.
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I’ve used the blue type, whatever those are, but used zip ties where they wrap together so that they hold together better than with the notches…and used the same zip ties on that side and the opposite on posts. The downside is the time it took to hole punch them for that. I’m not fighting deer.
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So …
I am thinking of going with the tree pro
Shipping is cheeper , because it’s a flat sheet
Can open the seam to inspect things.
May get a second use from them.
60inches should mostly protect from deer
1/2 in. PVC electric conduit I can get locally for ~ $1.00
Per 5ft stake , flexes in the wind to toughen up trunk. But won’t break.
Any comments ? ?
Last year I placed pool tubes on the new trees, and have not noticed any issues with them yet.
Here is how I do mine. I hole punch them, and use zip ties so I get more diameter for the tube. I started with 4 foot tubes, but deer aren’t as much of a problem (I have a farm radio station playing outside at all hours and the deer evidently aren’t into it), so I dropped back to 2 foot by cutting them in half. I have cut some of those even shorter to use as starter tubes for some things. So, I can take some short cuts, etc, so wind doesn’t catch them so much. Since they are shorter now, I’ve started scrimping on cheaper zip ties…and sometimes just cheap bamboo posts…that rot and break off fairly often. The blue tubes fit inside of poly mesh cages, so when I’m done with the blue tube, I first slide over a mesh cage, then pull out the blue tube and reuse it elsewhere.
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@snowflake
What brand are those tubes , net cages , source ? Price ?They don’t appear ventilated . Any issues whit that ?
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They are protex tubes. I’m not seeing a great price now. I might have gotten them from forestry suppliers. People say to watch for them on sale. I could try to look back and see if I can find what I paid for them. I got a pile of the flat unassembled sheets, maybe 200 of them.
These are the mesh tubes. I got them from Ben Meadows which was bought out by these guys. The sun wears them out…dry and brittle after two or three years.
The protex tubes have tabs to join them together, but I had read that the tabs can come unattached…especially in the wind. I have had no problems with the venting – the tabs flapping in the breeze probably give fairly good venting. The downside to the blue is that some things seem attracted to it and might stupidly end up in the bottom unable to get out. We get some monarch butterflies or other that can’t get back out. I had maybe read the same about bluebirds, which we don’t have.
Punching the holes in them to assemble this way is definitely very time consuming. But, I’ve had very good luck with them. I hole punched them, but some people drill them I think. My first experiment with them, I planted some 2 inch tall redbud transplants (I mean so small that we could hardly tell they were trees when we dug them up), and got them growing out of the top of the 4 foot tubes by the first summer (and decent trunk diameter). It was insane I thought. Those same trees might have experienced a bit of die back because I think they didn’t harden off properly. I think that was the issue. So, now I try to remove the tubes in the fall, or leave the tabs open, or raise them up a few inches to get cold air circulating through. With the shorter tubes, I haven’t worried about hardening off so much.
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This is not necessarily the intended/recommended use for the mesh cages (pine trees), but it works ok to get the main leader growing up. This stuff disintegrates eventually, so the tree will break it up. It was a nice way to put on protection and not worry about having to cut it, or whatever, later.
Yah. Not having to remove can be a plus , sometimes…
In my orchard ,I often use wire cages.when they have done there job ,I reuse them somewhere else.
This new planting I want to protect is in a more remote semi wooded area.
So that’s why I am thinking tubes,semi perminant, easyer to deal with in a semi wooded area.
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Those Ben Meadows mesh tubes are a PITA IMO. Ya, they “eventually” biodegrade…eventually being the operative term
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Sadly Derek, I lost my dog Babe to the same. She was a welsh corgi. Off to the vet, but by then it was too late. Gave vitamin K shot which helps to reverse warfarin, but she had bled out too much. It contributed to a loss of our marriage, too, d/t his non-chalant way of handling the whole thing, among others. My daughter and I cried like babies.
Take care. I have two large dogs but I would never risk it again.
Rose
I just put in an order for 75 of the maricle tubes as im getting extremely sick of putting together wire cages (over 150 of them), which sometimes rabbits find a way threw the holes and girdling my trees or eating all the branches off my spruce trees anyways. My only decision now is what stakes to get, metal rebar or pvc. I think metal will last forever ( could resell some or use elseware) and easy to install but do the pvc really help with trunk growth? They are a little cheaper too $1 vs $1.50…
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