You can get (3) 16 1-2’ lengths from each 50’ roll of welded wire fencing. Or (6) from a 100’ roll.
48’ square allows enough room for the mower to get in. (OK, it can be 46-1/2" or 47". Thereabouts is fine.)
An easy way to layout the T-posts is to make a 4’ x 4’ cardboard template. Put a couple inch wide U-shaped slot to the center of the template from one side. Slip is around the tree via the slot and use colored flags with wire to mark the T-pots around the corners of the 4’ square.
I like the idea of bringing the cage up off the ground. I used something similar to put down mulch (half lap joint)
My cages are round and I use 9ga landscape staples to hold them down. Bending the fencing and using t-posts is too much effort for me. Plus I want to keep low crawling critters out too. I don’t trust plastic with my rodents.
I like round cages myself, but that’s on smaller stuff- second year trees and our roses- and I rest them on the ground.
My two, bigger trees are about 10 and 8 feet tall respectively and I hang netting from the branches. They can’t browse through the netting. It’s similar to this: Garden Craft 84 in. H X 100 ft. L Plastic Netting .75 in in. Mfr# 320601 - Ace Hardware
Yeah, I prefer round cages too. A cylinder is the most efficient shape for achieving a specific distance from the tree. For example, with a 2’ (technically 1.99’) distance from the tree, you need 12.5’ of fence (1.99 x 2 x pi). So you can get 8 from 100’.
Also, my deer must be especially acrobatic because they have no qualms about crawling under a fence. [I once saw a doe duck under a fence with a 1’ space at a full gallop.]. So I put the fence on the ground. That means I really need 6’ rather than 4’ fencing, but it is what it is.
I’ve seen some pretty ugly pics of wire/fencing wrapped around antlers. If I left a foot open under my trees, I’d almost certainly end up with a buck getting his antlers tangled up while trying to get at dropped fruit.
Never a problem that way. But one deer died getting hoof caught in the crotch of Asian Pear tree. Sorry, no pics.
With a round cage, the deer can press against the wire, so I go square so it can be kept taut. If I cut a 50’ roll in half, that allows for two 6’ by 6’ squares and an extra foot for each cage for overlap. Even then, the trees eventually grow against the fence and need more room. I also put cylinders of hardware cloth around the trunk of each tree. All the wire and posts get expensive! I also wire mousetraps to the cages and bait them in the fall. I get well over 100 mice each autumn. I bag my apples, so the cages also serve to keep fallen bags from blowing all over the countryside.
I’ve been going in the opposite direction with my cages recently, they are around two feet in diameter so about six feet of fence per tree. I don’t want any low angle branching so I actually like how it pushes the trees against the fence and forces them more upward.. I need to get them above the deer. To keep deer from poking at the cages I put bird netting on the outside. Once the leaves are all above deer reach I can remove the cage.
One variable for me is whether deer will eat the branches or at least the bark.
My deer seem not to be interested in Chinese Chestnut and maybe not even European pear. So i find that if I can keep the deer away from the branches when they are young, I can start the scaffolds at around 4’. Once the branches thicken and the leafs are growing >7’, I can remove all fencing except whatever protects against rubs in autumn.
On the other hand, deer will devour the wood of America plum, mulberry, and apple. I’ve seen a big buck rise up on its hind legs, grab a branch in its teeth, pull down to break it, then eat the whole thing. I’ve seem this on both plum and mulberry. With 2-3" thick apples, I’ve seen complete girdling of bark. So with plum and mulberry I use 6’ fences with a 6’ diameter (roughly 10’ of fence) or wider to keep the deer away from scaffolds that generally start ~5’. I have to leave the fencing until the trunk and branches are too thick for the deer to grab in their mouths. With apples, I need a 7 1/2’ fence around everything forever. I suppose I could grow apples with scaffolds that start at 6’ but I have too many apple trees to be harvesting everything 10-20’ off the ground.
I had a deer rise up and rip down a branch off an Asian pear one time. They don’t seem to eat much bark, but once in a while I get a rub. I have lots of fruit drop to the ground and the deer may be satisfied eating that. They do an excellent job keeping things clean. Sometimes I will have 5 or 6 deer in the backyard. But this year will be slim pickings for them due to the late freeze.
I take the cages off when the trees are maybe 10 - 12 feet tall. I used to grow trees full size, but this year have made an effort to keep trees 12 - 13 feet tall. Some of my trees grew to about 25 feet tall.
The patch of grass missing used to be a little garden with onions in it. It was the last thing I tried before giving up the garden. Deer ate the tops of the onions and wrecked them. The area with the rocks showing under the peach tree is actually all rocks over weed blocker for the entire area. Grass / weeds grew back and covered the rocks. That is how it goes in the Rustbelt!
I’m in the process of swapping these solid trunk protectors for the mesh variety.
If cage is short on slopes, I sometimes run a wire below to extend the cage where needed. Didn’t get around to doing it here. Luckily trees grew some and are not so low.
I ran out of room, so am trying 2 or 3 trees in 1 hole. Here are 2 apricots. Deer cages are 48-inch x 7 or 8 feet long for 2 trees. Not exactly 1 hole. I can afford 3 feet in between. I just started using some pine nuggets under the trees. Not for weeds so much, more for helping maintain moisture in the summer droughts we get. Maybe I should put down weed blocker to keep the rodents out. I put rocks down with weed blocker when I first started in ‘08. It was a big mistake. I’m just doing it for young trees. Mature trees just have grass under them.
I have about 55 trees on 2/3 acre with house. Plus 31 potted figs when I get a few more. If lotto hits and I get a farm, maybe will have 90 trees or so. But would probably have the same number or less of figs. I’m not a fig collector…I’m a fig eater. I would just grow figs in a greenhouse if I had the land.
I have a similar issue that deer can stand on their hind legs and rip off some pretty high branches. What I do now is to make sure any lower branch has protection until it is 1-2” thick (or higher than ~7’), after that they can’t bend it down. I also remove all the leaves they could reach on the lower side so nothing looks too tempting. I protect things both with high cages, and then if there is still something exposed I will add an extra wrap on it, either bird netting or a small piece of deer fencing wrapped around a branch.
My deer will rip off the branches and eat anything green, but they don’t eat the bark’ed portions of the branches. Anything up to about 3/4” thick seems to be pretty easy pickings for them to pull down.
Re: tree height, I decided to grow my whole orchard above deer height, but low enough to prune from the ground with my 6’ pole pruners. So my trees are all ~13’ or lower after pruning. The downside of this is I need to use a ladder for some of my harvest. For apples and pears I use one of those basket poles, but for peaches and plums and cherries I just suck it up and get on the ladder. There is still quite a bit of fruit I can harvest from the ground by grabbing and pulling down limbs, or it’s just in reach. So I can often get about half of the harvest without a pole and without a ladder.
When all the leaves are out of reach I remove the cage, but I wrap a pole or two on the sides of the trunk so the bucks won’t kill the tree by girdling it. Once a tree is maybe 3-4” in diameter the bucks lose interest so I don’t need to do any protection at all. Finally a free tree!
