sounds like you're gonna need some help. You might ask Uncle Jed, Jethro and Ellie May. I wouldn't count on Granny!

Rifle, freezer and grill.

I feel like eastern red cedar get pretty unstable if limbed up...especially when a wall of them are confronted by strong winds.

Trees are often used as fence posts. You can attach your insulators to the trees. Just remember that the trunk is constantly expanding and you will have to go back every year or two and move the insulators out a little or the tree will gradually grow around them and the wire, which will then short out, not to mention the danger to someone in 40 years when they take a chainsaw to a fallen tree.

In Sequoia Nat'l Park I saw a fence outside a cabin the the owner had planted young sequoias and used them as fence posts

When attaching electric fence insulators to trees, I place a 1x6 board between the tree and insulator, nailing through the board so that as the tree continues to grow, it 'pushes' the board(and insulators) outward, rather than having the bark grow around and encompassing the insulator and wire.

Ken:

Forget the electric part of this fence idea--just plant the trees. It would not be hard to get an impenetrable deer barrier. An electric fence can be a nuisance to maintain--I know all about that--and is completely unnecessary.

Two ideas: Plant Norway spruce about 8 feet apart in one row, but with each tree offset about 5 feet alternating in and out. If you start with large transplants from places like Musser, Van's Pines, and/or Carino Nurseries, in 12 years or so no deer could force their way through. You could use Oriental spruce (hard to find) or Blue spruce (don't retain their lower branches so well and may be susceptible to disease where you are?).

Or you could plant Green Giants in a similar kind of pattern, but a bit closer--6 feet or so--and you would have a barrier in about 6 years or so if you start with three footers. You can get these cheap if you keep your eyes open. I got a lot this spring at $8.99 each. They have grown a foot or more already and I expect maybe 18 inches more before frost. You can get smaller ones for a lot less from places like Musser Forests.

--Spruce

I don't see why Spruceman's suggestion would not work, sort of like the hedgerows in England on a grander scale. A five acre property might look a little strange lined with an impenetrable tree line, however from the outside looking in. Alls you need, however, is one break in the link and Bambi will find it and come in that way, right up your drive and past your windows. Ask me how I know. I was sitting on the loo in deer season, and looked out at a buck looking in.

I have a lot of bird cherries wild on my property and they shed branches with some regularity. If you've ever had to scout electric fencelines when your cattle got out, you'd likely find the integrity broken at the point branches came down in the wind. Especially if you have something like ailanthus or bird cherry around.

Your idea about using tree trunks as electric fence posts would be VERY hazardous to other wildlife. Anything going up or down the trunk that encountered the wire would ground it and potentially be electrocuted. Birds, snakes, mammals - lots of unintended death could occur over time. Not to mention injury.

I have seen a lot of dead critters from encounters with electric fences. They either touch the wire and something else at the same time, or birds sometimes perch on the top wire and then grab a pole, lower wire, or other perch with one foot and ZOT!

The wires could also "clothesline" birds (especially Accipiters like Sharp-shinned Hawks and Cooper's Hawks) as they tried to fly or chase prey between the trees.

A better deer control would be to get a dog and an "invisible fence".

But if you HAVE to use electric fencing, do it on metal fenceposts or other non-natural foundation - not trees.

It's a fantastic idea. From what I'm reading, you want to use trees that are already growing on your property and transplant them along your 5 acre plot of land. When they get old enough, you want to cut off their limbs and use them as fence posts.

The absence of limbs would not make them unstable, actually the reverse would be true. Now that they are cut down to size and removed of leaf bearing limbs the wind is not a concern. At its core, you are growing fence posts that dig themselves into the ground. No one worries about a fence post being blown over by the wind.

As you've trimmed off the top and any limbs, the trees will probably quickly die which is exactly what you want. A firmly rooted post for a fence. Therefore, there isn't a problem with the tree growing over the fence wire (at least once the tree dies).

Instead of buying trees at $8.99 a tree for every 8 feet (easily over $600 for 5 acres), why not just transplant the young trees that are already growing on your land for free.

If you want an electric fence, go for it. It would be no different from a fence made from posts except that the trees would be far studier than any post could ever be. If anything, you might consider woods that are non-toxic to your animals (if any) and resistant to rot.