Thanks for the info…
Why 30-36" for pawpaws? to start having lower fruiting branches more immediately?
Also any reason behind choosing their “Tree Pro” series that you got vs their “Miracle Tube” series? (they cost the same)
Why the tree tubes for pawpaws? The rodents have never touched mine and a deer only nibbled once. I have 2x4” welded wire to protect myself from them, but that’s it. I feel like the tubes would make them more “leggy” too. I want mine growing against the breeze and toughening up before they reach fruiting age. Seems like a lot of money if you’re putting metal fencing around them too.
The idea to use tubes on the pawpaw was:
- provide some shade on them when young
- rabbit/rodent protection
- if a deer does nibble, won’t be able to eat/rip it down to the ground. Fyi, I did have several deer nibbles, before the electric fence, but not too bad.
- dual use in later years to prevent buck rubs
- limited to 3ft because I want them to branch out reasonably low, and in hindsight this was also good as with tall tubes I think it would have been an issue with branching and multiple leaders getting tangled up. Pawpaw leaves are big.
The pro tubes are the ones that come as a flat sheet, right? The miracle tubes, being a tube, have a lot more structural strength. They do a pretty good job supporting the tree in wind. Flimsy tubes tend to kink at the top zip tie.
That said, with my chestnuts, I had so much vertical growth that I ended up adding 8’ bamboo as well, so maybe it wouldnt matter if I had planned that from the start.
Also, now I’m slitting the tubes anyway, so I can prune out any branching, weeds, and old leaves inside the tubes (Can’t remove tube once tree is branched out). It only takes a moment to slit them with a hooked razor blade, so I’d probably still get the miracle tubes if I was doing it again.
I’m still using a combination of 3’ and 4’ tubes and still think they’re awesome. I’m using 3’s for trees that the deer here don’t bother too much here in sw MO like persimmon and pawpaw. 4’ for jujube, mulberry, pear, chestnut, and apple. Then, like engineer mentioned, slitting them when branching occurs above the tube to do an annual in-tube cleanup if needed. I’m just leaving them on as well, until the tree outgrows them, to prevent buck rub. I’ve had zero issues with them, aside from a couple of mouse and hornet nests and will continue using them. Still prefer them to cages, as in almost all instances I want high first branches. I have had a few occasions where deer will eat the tops coming out of a 4’ tube. I just slide the tube a foot up the pvc stake and add a short corrugated tube to the exposed bottom which is working well for me.
project pawpaws tree tube trial: https://youtu.be/oYI-FAPgMyo
(anyone know why youtube videos dont embed for me?)
1 Like
I’m using the tree pro slitted tubes. It would be nice to not have to put them together, but I like that you can take them apart and clean them out. Once my trees get above the top, I can take them off and use them for new trees if I want. One thing that’s helping me this year is switched from 60" wooden stakes to 60" fiberglass stakes . Tht fiberglass are smaller in diameter and the zipties slid over them easier which helps with the install.
Sure. I don’t think the idea of the short ones is too bad for the reasons you said. I don’t want my pawpaws very tall, nevermind the first branches starting at 5-6ft. But it still seems like a lot of money to me for a tree mostly left alone by wildlife…especially 2 forms of barriers on each tree.
If I was doing 200+ I’d probably just plant genetically superior seedlings and let them be…maybe invest in some weed barrier. And either let them be or graft afterwards after X tall. If a few seedlings get nibbled or stomped they can just grow back from the roots. I think he did graft most of these beforehand though so I can understand the concern.
But this is a tree tube thread and I have no issues with them. My chestnuts wouldn’t have gotten above 6” without being protected. But I agree with you that if you are going to use them on pawpaws that you should go 30-36” max.
This is an active question for me so I’m glad you brought it up. I just planted some grapes which need to grow to the top of a 7.5 foot arbor. Ideally, they’d reach the top in one growing season so I’m interested in growing tubes.
The owner of Northeast Vine Supply told me that he hasn’t found them to help with growth at all, and the only advantage is to protect roots from chemical spray. He says that they increase possibility of disease and insect infestation which makes sense because of increased humidity.
But other grape growers have said that grow tubes unequivocally accelerate growth … I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts.
I think the increase in growth is like the legginess a plant gets in low light settings. They try to go straight up looking for the sun, but in doing so they sacrifice some stability. Anyone who has grown veggies from seed in the sun vs poor lighting knows how that goes.
Some tubes let some light and ventilation through though. But in my experience those trees can still have some stability issues once the tubes are removed and they experience wind for the first time. That may not be much of an issue with grapes though. They’re a different beast and will be supported and pruned often. Mine are growing on the south and west side of my chicken run and are fenced off to keep the deer away. But if I didn’t have the fencing I’d probably use a tube for them to get them established.
1 Like
They protect the trunk, not the roots. Grapes can tolerate direct glyphosate applications to the trunk if the bark is developed and there are no suckers, so some growers will use grow tubes to make weed control easier for the first few years.
I don’t know about accelerating growth, but what grow tubes definitely do is increase internode length. Fewer nodes between the ground and fruiting zone means less labor needed to remove trunk suckers every spring. We don’t use grow tubes where I work, but we do use waxed paper cartons to protect vines for the first year after planting. Since we cut them down to two buds after the first winter, the cartons aren’t for trunk formation but just for protection against herbivores and dessication.
1 Like