What did this to my pawpaw’s trunk?!?

General Fruit Growing
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Just happened recently. :rage:
Groundhog comes to mind

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how big is the trunk… beaver was my first thought.
I would put on a metal mesh wire cage. or plastic of some sort. I do that on all my trees because of rabbits and they don’t even do that… whatever it is that did this…

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Good point of clarification. About 2-3 inches diameter.
Don’t have beavers here.

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Whatever it was, looks like it didn’t like the taste, so that’s good news!

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Porcupine possibly or groundhog. Definitely looks like rodent teeth of some sort. I’d put a tree guard on that quickly as it may come back again.

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My thought exactly!! Hahaha

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Thanks everyone. For about 7 years I had 2-3 foot wide chicken wire cages around each tree but removed them last fall.
Guess I didn’t know what I was missing.

Can anyone recommend specific brand tree guard?

I’ve also been procrastinating on an electric fence so if I ever get to that, I’d be ok mostly.

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Thoughts on whether neem oil would deter a munching groundhog?

Found marks on 3 other trees. I still think the varmint probably sampled them at the same time and won’t try again but you never know (or I could get new visitors).

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@MikeB or others -
Would really love a recommendation- have never used these before.
The spiral ones seem like a good option maybe.

The whistle pigs have not stopped. They really nailed one tree resulting in a lot of vertical cracks. I think its lifespan will be impacted.

They have also taken to chewing lower branches and new growth too. Even found a bunch of damage to a dogwood. What the crud?!?

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Man we don’t get any of that “fun” stuff up here…yet. I think the current ranges of all cicada broods and granulate ambrosia beetle are well south of here.

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These ones here are the best in my opinion:

I’m up in Canada, so not sure if you can order from that site. I prefer these ones to the regular spiral ones because they’re not as tight, they give the tree some breathing space and avoid mold and bugs taking hold in the cracks in summer. I use them all year round on my unfenced front yard trees. If the spiral ones are all you can find, they should be fine though.