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| I know this question can't be answered without asking the perps but has anyone else had this issue?
I've never had browsing damage from both deer and rabbits (possibly squirrels) this early with green grass readily available. Even more strange is the extent of damage and range of species effected. All Hydrangea, Oak, Acer, Ginkgo, Weigela, Witchhazel, Nyssa and many others. Even more frustrating is that I haven't seen a deer in two years and maybe seen 3 rabbits in that time period as well. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Sneaky bastards only come out at night here. I have a neighbor that has lived here for 30 years and never seen a single one. I have seen them about a dozen times or so since we moved in 09 but nearly always at dusk. Vile creatures nearly girdled 2 oaks before I could get all my hardware cloth or post/fishing line out this fall. I really freaking despise them. I haven't noticed browse on anything, yet. |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Sat, Nov 17, 12 at 12:32
| didnt hunting season start??? they are migrating .. from all the drunk with guns.. in the woods ... you built a house .. in a new sub.. is that happening all around you??? ... they arent scared of you any more ... and i dont know why the range of things affected surprises you.. they nibble whatever they stumble across ... my oaks trees.. after 12 years.. have gone ape poo with acorns this year.. i am stunned by the number of tracks all over my yard.. apparently they REALLY like acorns ... of which they eat them .. and see link ... luckily.. it harvest season here in the country ... plenty of forage around.. ken |
Here is a link that might be useful: link
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- Posted by ghostlyvision 8b/9a (My Page) on Sat, Nov 17, 12 at 13:53
| The oaks down here in Houston have gone ape wold with acorns as well, no wildlife other than squirrels to eat them so probably will have zillions of seedlings to pick out of the beds and yard next year. |
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| It must be candy time between 11pm and 6am. My dog has yet to spot anything yet. She sure did last year and they'd bolt like lightening. The range wouldn't surprise me if it was the middle of winter. Its actually nice outside right now. Perhaps they are setting the stage for what they could have later in the winter. I took several empty 5 and 10 gallon containers and cut the bottom out and put it around all the small plants, which they seem to be seeking at this point. I gave up on hardware cloth, too much of a pain. No conifer damage what so ever. |
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- Posted by wisconsitom 4/5 WI (My Page) on Sat, Nov 17, 12 at 17:27
| Keep in mind too Whaas that deer aren't ruminants. They don't eat grass, they browse everything else! But I get what you mean-the presence of still-green grass should indicate that other non-winter foods are still available, but this may not be so. For example, if they were enjoying alfalfa from a nearby field, that may have had its last cut for the year, and so on. Now they also enjoy corn and that too might have pretty much disappeared recently. Just depends on farming practices nearby. Plus, obviously, most green tree and shrub leaves are now not available. Sucks, I know.......+oM |
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| I think I just had one run in with a deer due to the height of the plant, plus my fishing line barrier was broken. All the other stuff is those damn rabbits for sure! |
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| The old quandary - Does a deer feeder keep the deer full so they don't eat your trees/shrubs or does the feeder draw in more deer than would otherwise visit therefore increasing the incidence of browse damage due to increased opportunity? |
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- Posted by lou_midlothian_tx z8 DFW, Tx (My Page) on Sat, Nov 17, 12 at 19:29
| Jond, My father in law apparently has spoiled deer to the point that they just come up to us waiting for corns. I've had one big buck with big antlers come to me and grabbed some corns out of bucket! |
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- Posted by ilovemytrees 6a Western NY (My Page) on Sat, Nov 17, 12 at 22:17
| That is why ALL of our trees and our bush are surrounded by 1/4 inch hardware cloth, the green colored ones, year round. Plus to keep any dog from being able to urinate on them. Those fences are not cheap, but they definitely work. I read online that there are A LOT more rodents this year than any other in recent history. Squirrels, and rabbits (?) fall under that category I believe. 8 days ago we bought, and installed a new side door to our house. while our old door was off, and before the new one was fully attached, dh walked away from it for a few minutes and what ran in? A deer mouse! You know the cute mouse that looks exactly like Bambie with their big brown eyes, white belly and perfectly bi colored tail. We have never had a mouse in all our 20 yrs of living here, and I have only heard of the Deer Mouse, never knew they were in NYS to begin with. Neither did the neighbor next door. We got the mouse that night under our kitchen sink so his stay was short but not sweet. When I saw the mouse I screamed a scream that any horror movie director would be proud of, and I bleached every single inch of the downstairs. I know they carry the Hanta virus, but thankfully Deer Mice in the northeast don't carry it, the white footed mouse does. Our's was definitely the Deer mouse. Anyway, my point is I guess this is a year of firsts for rodents, for you and I. I am SO sorry your trees and bushes were attacked. I had that happen to my entire tree order a few years ago by rodents called Voles. The bain of everyone's existence around here. The Christmas tree neighbor lost 1000 trees from the voles the same year I lost my trees. Just another example of how Mother Nature reigns supreme. I thought rodents left Witch Hazel alone... |
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| I usually use wire fencing to protect plants from the larger critters (rabbits, deer, woodchucks etc.) It is 4 feet tall and has a 2 x 4 inch opening. I've collected rolls when people are throwing it out, or giving it away. I like it when it's a little rusty, it becomes invisible in the landscape. I make a cage to encircle plants, in varying heights, and usually cut the top and bottom horizontal wires off the cage so that there are 3 or 4 inch "spikes" on both ends. The spikes on the bottom make it easy to secure the fencing into the ground - the top deters the critters (just be careful not to skewer oneself or ones children). This fencing works great, much easier to work with than hardware cloth, and $FREE$! You can also encircle the wire cages with Deer and bird netting, to keep out smaller critters, like mice, chipmunks, squirrels, and rats. For voles, I use a mixture recommended over at the Hosta forum made of castor oil/human urine and sprinkle around the plants I want to protect, so as to saturate the root zone. I also do use hardware cloth to encircle the roots of the vole's most favorite perennials. These methods work absolutely great, but I suffered losses of many bulbs and perennials before figuring it out! |
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| To clarify vole mixture, 2 Tablespoons castor oil/ 1-2 cups human urine diluted in 2 or 3 gallons of water. Mix well. Apparently the voles hate the taste of castor oil and it is very sticky and protects the roots for a long time. It also coated the inside of my old watering can, so now I only make the castor oil mixture in that can. It didn't seem to have any adverse affect on the plants, however the voles definitely had an adverse affect on the plants. 8-P |
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- Posted by ilovemytrees 6a Western NY (My Page) on Sun, Nov 18, 12 at 16:26
| If you surround your trees or bushes with rocks, not tiny pebbles, but pond rocks, that also keeps voles away as they won't walk on the rocks. |
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| I've seen a doe approach my Willow oak 2 footer tree and would've took a chomp but me and my dog ran at it screaming and it ran away. Just screaming got a nonchalant glance. I put a couple drops of patchouli oil around it. I don't know what else to use, it's pungent, so may work. Something took the top off my Eng Yew Taxus Baccatta. I thought Yew wasn't palatable to critters. Talk about deer being used to people and cars. On the way to Florida on the blue ridge parkway, they are calmly eating grass almost on the road with cars swishing by. |
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| Thanks for the feedback everyone. Interesting to hear what others are experiencing. Cripes, woodchucks? I never thought about them, there are quite a few of them in the neighbors yard. I've only seen them grazing various weeds during the growing season. Haven't seen them in a month or two though. I think they figured out when to come out though as my dog would spot them in a jiffy. Surprised how fast those fatties can move. |
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- Posted by wisconsitom 4/5 WI (My Page) on Sun, Nov 18, 12 at 21:49
| I'm afeared that some fine day, I'm going to walk into my plantation and see many trees all screwed up by porcupines. From my readings and direct observations, they're quite fond of conifers. Hasn't happened on my land yet so far as I'm aware, but I just feel it coming. One thing I read was in Maine. Big larch plantings-porkys were the main issue. I've found lots of debris under big hemlocks only to look up and see a fat porcupine up at the top of the tree. +oM |
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| "I thought Yew wasn't palatable to critters." Yews are deer candy. They will devour them. No point in planting yews if you have deer. |
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- Posted by wisconsitom 4/5 WI (My Page) on Mon, Nov 19, 12 at 9:51
| Good point, Lacey. Taxus canadensis, once widespread throughout what became N.E. US and E. Canada is now virtually extirpated across most of this huge region, due to the proliferation of white-tailed deer. +oM |
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| +om, Deer ARE ruminants - but you were correct that they are principally browsers. Yes, they will eat some grasses/forbs - we routinely plant wildlife food plots of wheat/oats/rye/ryegrass/clover/vetch for them - but they primarily are browsers, and usually are not fans of the grasses most folks have growing in their lawns(fescue, bluegrass, etc.), and therefore tend to eat things that we'd rather they didn't when they visit our yards/orchards. Rabbits - I think they live to 'cut' my blueberries and seedling oaks/pecans/hickories. |
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- Posted by franktank232 z5 WI (My Page) on Mon, Nov 19, 12 at 13:50
| Whitetail deer taste great. If you've never hunted you can get bow/gun tags for $5 (Wisconsin) and I believe extra tags are free (2 extra?)... Get yourself a compound bow (or borrow one) and shoot them as they eat your plants. You can even sell the hide for a few dollars. I trap voles using those plastic easy set mouse traps. Over the years I've probably killed 100 voles. Just keep at it. The population really varies through out the year. Fall seems the worse as they move in for overwintering (they like to get in my garage). |
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| To all those proposing hunting, a lot/most of the damage is done at night when it is ILLEGAL to hunt deer in many/most/all states. I do agree they are delicious in chili, jerky, or steaks (especially backstrap) John |
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- Posted by wisconsitom 4/5 WI (My Page) on Mon, Nov 19, 12 at 22:35
| Yeah Lucky, I misspoke. The association holds up though because as you say, they don't favor Kentucky bluegrass, fine fescues, etc. +oM |
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