6 Ways to Protect Trees from Mice and Rabbit DAMAGE or Girdling

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Great video. I can also attest to the drainage-pipe working well. Another thing that works for me, specifically for rabbits is to do a late season sowing of kale. My kale is still up mid Feb (zone 4 in Ontario). We have so many rabbits living in our food forest (thousands) and I've found that I have almost zero rabbit damage this year, and a TON of rabbit poop all around my kale. The kale looks a bit stale and sickly (it has hit -25C after all), but it's still there, and the rabbits are still foraging it. The rabbits don't really want to eat your trees, they are mostly looking for green ramial wood (and a bit of teeth filing), and they'd prefer kale. Also as long as they don't fully girdle the tree it's fine. And if they do you can try a bridge graft to restore the pathway. So for anyone reading this, try planting some kale at the end of the season, so that you have some green forage up in your food forests in Jan/February/March which is when you will see a lot of rabbit/mice/mole/vole damage. Once you get some kale established, it should seed quite readily. I use sea kale/red russian kale which are perennials, but they also self seed quite well. An hours work sometime in August can save you thousands of dollars of trees.

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Great idea works well for the first years of your planting. After five years the food forest will create enough shade that annual veggies no longer do so well. We tried for a couple of years after 5 and just stopped all annuals.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

@@StefanSobkowiak That's definitely a very good point. It may be a matter of digging through some plant databases to find a shade tolerant understory plant which is edible and stays viable as long as possible into the winter. I'm sure there is something that could be done. Radishes could be a decent option. I just popped out to my lower garden area and I do see a lot of radishes with rabbit manure around them. I plant mostly daikons as soil builders, especially in more shady areas as the daikons do well in shade. Could be another option. I'm sure there are multiple options that could work. Anyone else have any greens that last well into the winter but also tolerate shade (and ideally fungal dominated tree soils). Something like sage could be perfect, but I find because it's a strong smelling herb, even though rabbits do eat it, they don't prefer it. So it would likely work but maybe not well enough.

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Look at my top 10 perennials they are most all shade tolerant. Certainly day lily, garlic chives, chives, sorrel, and one not mentioned, mitsuba.

[@JohnDoe_88]

If your not growing Scarlet kale I suggest growing it's the most hardy kale I've tried and has been overwintering and reveging like a perennial for me zone 5 Michigan

[@JohnDoe_88]

Stefan try chipdrop.com or contacting local tree trimmers to tell them chips can be dropped at your address any time. Thick course chips without greens is what u need lay it down extra thick to last if u can get your hands on some. Luckily near me near the city allows trimmers every season to drop a huge two story mound of chips in a municipal parking lot for locals to take. Hopefully chipdrop.com helps you to suppress the tall weeds around your trees... Also I've heard of wrapping the trunks in cheap tin foil which may be effective and easy and heard squirrels don't like climbing tin foil to get up to your fruit. Try and keep trying until you learn what's effective and easy. Good luck, thanks for your information.

[@MojoShoujo]

As an ecologist and having worked with wildlife rehab in the past I can't emphasize enough not to use poison for pest control! Not just for gardens but for homes as well whenever possible. Poison doesn't kill pests immediately, so they leave the area after feeding and die somewhere else. A weak rodent becomes easy prey for anything that eats them, so by poisoning the rodents you're also poisoning all the owls, hawks, cats, snakes, mouse-hunting dogs, etc in your area. One 2010 UK study found that 91% of dead barn owls tested had some level of rodenticide poisoning, up from 5% in 1983. Even nonlethal levels of poison can kill a bird by making them weaker, more susceptible to disease, easier to get disoriented and fly into buildings or roadways. Use traps, use physical or chemical deterrants, use rodent-hunting animals, manage the environment to reduce them, ANYTHING but poison.

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Absolutely.

[@edibleacres]

Great notes here... For the benefit of all the folks here, could you suggest what length of 1/4" mesh fencing you recommend cutting to wrap around the trees? I understand the 2' in height or the 3' fencing cut into 2x 18" with the spikes facing down, but how long on average do you like to cut them so they can most effectively wrap? Thanks!

[@edibleacres]

Ha... made the comment when pausing the video at 10:30... then you suggest a formula... Seems like if you think of an average of 1' diameter trees in the orchard than roughly 3' or more of length would be a good average number to land on if you wanted to make a whole bunch at a time, would you agree?

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Pi R square if I remember the formula. Yes 1’ diameter is a good number to use.

[@tomstegeman4344]

Cool to see the meeting of minds of 2 people I watch on KZbin. Thanks to both of your inputs,, I'm currently using Stefan's method to put 1/4" hardware cloth cylinders w/ 6" diameter by 2 ft tall, around my precious chestnut saplings (grown from seeds I got from Akiva Silver and started in air prune beds suggested by both Akiva and Edible Acres), and then iv also got 5ft tall by 7ft diameter deer fence circles around each chestnut as an outer mote. Thanks yall !

[@Permisiepl]

Great tips, as always. I have just learned that mowing is important not only because of voles. I have made a mistake and I have left some clover ground cover in my food forest not mowed. Now with heavy snow and frost it is a magnet for deer and hares that think it is all you can eat buffet. They scratch snow cover to the ground and feast on clover.

[@Stezosledec559]

Over night I watched yours summer videos. It was joy. I am looking forward for spring.

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Enjoy the best part of each season.

[@jts1040]

very informative, thanks

[@gamercat4396]

I also use the wire cloth method

[@amandaliberty08]

Thank you, great tip

[@GroLeafy]

Im planting trees for the first time and have moles that tunnel. Would lining the tree planting hole would 1/4 in metal hardware cloth harm the tree root development?

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Moles are a great sign your soil is wonderful and filled with earthworms. They don’t harm the trees or roots. 1/4” mesh is a good precaution for voles and rabbits and won’t harm roots.

[@GroLeafy]

@@StefanSobkowiak Thank you for your response. I actually went ahead and put chicken wire instead before reading this. The chicken wire has wider spacing. Now I know for next year when I plant more trees.

[@charlesdevier8203]

I am also using 9 inch pieces of corrugated drain pipe for my "young" orchard. I put it on the newly planted trees (4 years ago) mainly to keep weed-whips from damaging the trees. But now there are two trees that are too large; think I will go to the 1/4 inch mesh.

[@theleastcreative]

7:33 3 ft is approximately 90cm not 60, I do believe

[@katdenning6535]

Are there guards for shrubbery? We have barberry bushes the rabbits can’t keep away from but I’m not sure how to keep them out from underneath them

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Never seen a guard for shuns. They are made to be eaten as a renewal for the shrubs

[@littlehomesteadnearthebigcity]

Stefan, very interested in the Biotope. Can you please do a video on it one day? I have been putting up mason bee, bat, and birdhouses on my property to help eat pests. Thank you!

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Look up the video: no more honey bees in the permaculture orchard. It shows the biotope the most.

[@littlehomesteadnearthebigcity]

Thank you Stefan!

[@seangaul4618]

1/4 inch wire is great!! But go taller for deer if your trees aren’t in an enclosure where bucks can rub their antlers on them. Two birds one stone;)

[@korrinl7749]

I love Beaux not wanting to share her catch. “Get your own vole!”

[@HerEcolife]

No snow 😲😲😲😲

[@bryanjohnson584]

What do you use to cut the pipe?

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Was cut before we bought. Probably tin snips with a spring. Chop saw and a jig to direct the pipe would also work.

[@SherwoodBotsford]

In addition to mowing in fall, mow when stuff is in bloom. Mow the clover to cut off their seed or winter.

[@mandersson6754]

You should experiment with planting Vinca minor into your orchard. They are hardy, evergreen and easy to grow as a ground cover. The critters wipes off the snow cover to graze them now but leave them in summer. They have a long blooming season and are pretty nice looking, just beware that the Vinca is rather invasive. Most of my trees and bushes seem to be spared now even though we have a hard winter. Probably because they prefer the greener Vinca!

[@margwalker6606]

Does this galvanized mesh prevent rats mice and squirrel from climbing my trees?

[@StefanSobkowiak]

No won’t prevent climbing.

[@cmerks5]

I have lost so many trees to voles. We have a huge population on our property. Just wondering what job are they doing? There must be a benefit, such as tilling the soil?

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Yes they are tilling and fertilizing the soil but if a high population persists for a long time it means you don’t have enough predators. Put up a couple of kestrel nest boxes, add some brush piles for weasels, leave some areas I mowed for shrews...

[@cmerks5]

We do have kestrel, hawks and a few foxes, but it seems like we should have more snakes. For how many voles we have it seems like we should have way more snakes. Any way to encourage snakes?

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Best I’ve ever seen is a pile of pieces of old road asphalt surrounded by unmowed grass about 3’ high. It was crawling with snakes as they all seemed to come there for the night. I’m looking for some to recreate such a pile.

[@LadyRickie]

When do I trim down my dwarf apple tree? What temperature? It is slowly going up, for now -36C with windchill. My tree is a dwarf Honey Crisp apple tree. I have wood chips around it.

[@StefanSobkowiak]

It always depends on how many trees you have. If just a few trees wait until the snow melts but before bud break. Always wait until after the coldest part of the year.

[@LadyRickie]

@@StefanSobkowiak I just have one apple tree. What about lilac bushes?

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Prune lilac after they bloom or you remove many flowers.

[@LadyRickie]

@@StefanSobkowiak Have a old one maybe planted 1940's and then some young ones. Do I give a good trim after flowering?

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Yes but in moderation.

[@sokkomp]

Good time of day! Tell me, please, where can we learn from the experience of permaculture in a greenhouse? I want to move with my family for a year of work in such a farm to gain experience. Naturally, with a payment (salary), so that there is something to live on.

[@janejanis9199]

I have 3 outside cats. they have made a huge dent in the mice and vole population here. the chickens are also good at reducing mice , vole and snake populations. Our dogs help too; boy do they!!!

[@ChrisHufnagel_Polymath]

How do you feel about cats?

[@StefanSobkowiak]

We have many village cats come into the orchard since we’re the first farm from town. They help but will never get all the voles.

[@JohnDoe_88]

I've seen ppl wrap the trunk of their tree with tin foil for cheap and claim it keeps critters off

[@inharmonywithearth9982]

It works and a couple feet of a metal wire twisted loosely around the trunks stops deer rubbing antlers. They have nerves in their antlers just like our teeth and foil and metal hurts the nerves.

[@mykvass]

small mice are eating my figs and mulberries ...any ideas ???? I'd appreciate it.

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Often in dry areas small animals eat juicy fruit for the water. Add a water dish or birdbath close to the ground near the trees and see if it improves.

[@jesse4530]

Am I the only one who imagined a pear shaped lizard battling the insects? Pearzilla!

[@TheBarefootedGardener]

I’ve used poison because I had some rare plants that got killed by rodents and I was so mad that they killed these rare plants, but you know what works really well, and what I do nowadays, is to call foxes with a Bluetooth speaker; particularly when vixens are screaming their eerie call.

[@w4447]

that dog was like my vol my prize go get your own.I bet the vols taste better then the poison does too.

[@markc1894]

The dogs like get your own vole😂😂😂😂😂

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Yup, doesn't like to share her catch.

[@MsCaterific]

💗

[@18Bees]

Being from Scotland I’m going to trap and eat the rabbit then have an apple, plum or persimmon pie for dessert 😉

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Eat one of those rabbits for me.

[@18Bees]

@@StefanSobkowiak 😋will do.

[@sight1666]

Wel, i guess nature always want to have more and more diversity than us.

[@wojciechstrzalkowski3293]

Rubber glove + some old glove + fat(lard) on second hand = no rabbits. They hate this smell.

[@bobmariano3731]

👍⚾️

[@winrockywin331]

Where’s your snow?!??

[@StefanSobkowiak]

It’s here. Filmed earlier in the winter.

[@Jimmywuu636]

Dude! You need a dog. Rat Terrier or something. Dog for the day ratting and a cat for night.