The most important thing you should do right now - trunk protectors!

I like to do these public service announcement videos now and then, and here is one. There's always new viewers every year and it's important to hand out timely information right when it's needed.
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[@plainsimple442]

When I was a kid we knew how deep the snow was in the winter by seeing the height of the bark girdling on the bushes at the edge of the forest.

[@pixelrancher]

The "Who me?" from the pup was perfect.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Yeah! I was reaching for the pause button when she looked up like that and thought "cha-ching! That's pure gold!". She's so funny.

[@donnavorce8856]

WE cover about 10,000 trees every Nov at the tree farm. We use recycled grain sacks and some corrugated plastic tubes with sides split put on with a special tool and a lot of spirals too on tiny trees.

[@waykeeperfarmandnerdery]

I learned this the hard way our first year at the farm. I’ve been using protectors now and our trees are holding up against the bunnies!! 🎉

[@Wisald]

I didn't even know about this. Now I'm glad we have very few rabbits here.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Deer are bad, but I would say that rabbits are even worse. Many trees will survive a hard deer browse. They will get set back hard, but will usually survive. However, rabbits going right around the circumference of the tree (girdling it) will kill even a 10 year old tree dead in 1 night.

[@nyurr2196]

I haven't used protectors the past 3 years and I almost lost a plum tree in year 2. I also lost my hardy kiwis and thornless blackberries to the ground. I do not rely on my garden to feed me so I was lazy. On the bright side I was able to tell when I had finally planted enough plants for the local bunnies when they didn't eat all my blackberry canes last year.

[@pattibando3104]

Thanks for the heads up ❤

[@tgardenchicken1780]

Suggestion, if you use hard plastic protectors, cut them in half lengthwise. When you put them on in the fall, use duct tape to put the halves back together on the trunk. You can color code the tape color if you want. (use your creative decorating ability or just have fun.) Cut tape in the spring. Easier to store the 2 pieces. You will not cut the trunk of the tree when applying. The hard plastic should go on in November, remove in March/April. Critters (Mice/insects) and diseases (fungal etc) can grow/live between plastic and trunk during the summer. If you want to, you can walk around the trees and tamp snow down to make a low path near the plastic protectors, so that the bunnies are now back to a near ground height path and can't nibble the bark above the protectors.

[@___.51]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Great suggestion. Do you find the tape lasts the winter? I guess so or you wouldn't have suggested it, but thought I'd ask anyways.

[@tgardenchicken1780]

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy seems to last fine

[@farmtwo53]

Interesting video. Makes me grateful for the strong coyote population around our farm in the Alberta Foothills. Not a rabbit to be found!

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Exactly! This is why some of the best solutions to pests are actually to create habitat for their predators!

[@nmnate]

Happy Thanksgiving Keith! I checked my tree protection when I was out pruning trees today. The rabbits are in the process of mowing down most of our perennials that they find palatable. Also digging holes literally everywhere (craters like the moon). I drop all of my tree prunings on the ground for the rabbits to snack on throughout winter. They really seem to like apple and European plum wood.

[@Cyssane]

He's Canadian, so his Thanksgiving was back in October a couple weeks before Hallowe'en.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

That's another good play. I drop willow branches down everywhere, they really love willow. Another thing that some of my Russian viewers do is pull a low branch down to the ground and put a rock on it. The rabbits then eat the branch and leaves, but leave the trunk alone. Sacrificial annode. LOL

[@gerbster14]

What about packing leaves around them with chicken wire or something to keep them warm over winter?

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

No need. When it hits -40C outside, some leaves won't do anything. That can help cheat a few degrees or so though, so depending on where you are and your climate, and what temp you are protecting against, it could buy just enough help. The downside is that you are putting moisture right up against the trunk and are going to be at higher risk of both rot and also boring insects. Personally, I don't recommend it.

[@nephilimninjaofnibiru2907]

I've found shock collers set properly and a gentle reminder to the dog is the best way to correct that issue. Especially smarter dogs.

[@garthwunsch]

I have to keep the protectors tight to the ground and as high as I can... rabbits up top, and mice/voles beneath the snow.

[@peterfrance702]

I'm using a loose wrap of chicken wire this year. Lets see what happens. Also 1.5m high wire fencing round the tree, about 1.4m diameter,,no supports as the fence natural curls round itself. It's not pretty

[@wahiine]

Wow, so surprising to see how warm it is. In Oslo we got snow three weeks earlier than usual and all the ski slopes are open.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Yeah, we were freezing the few days before this video, and again today we're down to -5C. Weather is bouncing all around the place.

[@barbarasimoes9463]

I was diligent about doing this and was debating about whether I wanted to bother or not--this tipped the scale...I guess I will. The bunnies nibble my 50 blueberries and I let them. It's kind of like a free pruning service, but if they did this to my trees, I would be ticked!

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

I was lazy one year. Never again! I lost so many trees that year.

[@barbarasimoes9463]

I did half the trees yesterday...Ughh, landscaping cloth will rip you to shreds! I had some pre-cut pieces, and some even shaped into tubes, but just the act of fitting it around the trunks and then tying them together is a pain. I used landscaping staples to hold them to the ground. My plan is to do the other half today. Do you know of any fruit trees that our little furry friends don't bother with? I was thinking about your pup de-wrapping your trees and I was wondering if you just tied them with string if that might help! Some of my trees' branching structure are lower than the height of the landscaping cloth pieces, regardless of the direction I circled them with, so I cut out the bottom of plastic planting pots, sliced them up the side and punctured holes for the staples. They are shallow enough that I don't think I have to worry about air circulation. Certainly, snow will be higher than the containers. I'm still thinking on this. Maybe I'll have to have a really big diameter of landscape cloth...Have you found a quick and easy way to join the stuff? I've been using twist ties or short cuts of wire. Still a pain! @@CanadianPermacultureLegacy

[@littlehomesteadbythebeach]

On very small tree, I find it difficult to use this kind of things. I found it breaks important buds. I prefer to use chicken wire on trees a bit like your black protector. This year, I planted very small apple trees (10 cm long) and to protect them, I have put dry branches of very thorny blackberry all around. Hope it will deter little animals that would like to take a bite of them.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Great suggestion for smaller trees.

[@seanrichardson881]

I've always used the blue nursery tree tubes. A new suggestion I was curious of trying is metal screen loosely wrapped and stapled together. Apparently this prevents mice from building their nest in the tube and still girdling the tree. cheep. Supposably just as effective.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

I've done that around the trees in my chicken run. I think it's working both for the chickens and for the rabbits. Another nice thing about it is that it allows better airflow and sunlight to the trunk. Some trees like sun on their trunk. However, some also don't, like peaches which can split easily in the winter with a hot sun on them, due to thermal stress. Maybe it's worth doing a quick followup video today on those 2 things, thanks for the comment!

[@growinginportland]

We don’t have rabbit issues here in Portland, Oregon, but it has been unseasonably warm this year. Did enjoy a beautiful Thanksgiving day. Sun was out no rain took a nice walk. Hope all is well. Thanks for posting.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Sounds like you took full advantage of a great day :)

[@growinginportland]

Indeed. I made Lamb Shanks instead of Turkey for Thanksgiving. Home run. Ordering all my seeds for Spring next year, since there on sale. Take Care.@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy

[@Kylosgrande]

great reminder i gotta get mine done ASAP!!

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Wonderful! So far it looks like more than a couple people were running behind. Hopefully this video saves a few trees!

[@GimmeADream]

Ohhhh the memories of when my Aussi was a pup. She was horrible about moving and chewing anything I touched. Now that she is a bit older and has a Great Pyrenees puppy sister she is enjoying not getting the bad attention.

[@GimmeADream]

On the topic of rabbits..., not something that has ever bothered the trees or plants here. Surprisingly so! But the horses have been known to chew the willows down to the roots and then pull the roots up and chew them. And oak trees too.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Yeah, willow is such a fantastic fodder crop/tree.

[@gangofgreenhorns2672]

What do you do for your Aquascape pond in the winter? I designed and built my own this year for rainwater and ducks, and it's still going fine at the moment. Just keeping all the water moving seems to be enough so far?

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

You have 2 options: 1) Shut off all pumps and remove water from lines above the frost-line so they don't freeze. If you used proper piping though, it can handle a freeze, you just don't want the water "trapped" in a line, so as long as it can move and expand as it freezes it should be okay. I.e. don't have a line double-capped anywhere and also exposed to freezing temps. For me, I do it this way now. I shut off all the pumps, pop open the connection to the sump, and have it gravity drain back into the sump. This causes a bit of overflow, which I designed in, to drain down to the "old man walking trail" area. or, you can 2) Keep it running all winter. This is really only an option if your winters are relatively mild. You can get some freezing on the waterfalls, and it looks AMAZING. Just watch for flow-bypasses. Make sure it doesn't freeze so much that it now creates a pencil stream that bypasses over top of the liner and into the surrounding landscaping. You can get some pretty bad erosion if that happens. For that reason, I just do option 1 instead, and my pond just becomes a normal hole in the ground all winter. It freezes over. We put aerators in at the 1 foot depth, and this causes enough motion that it doesn't freeze over. Well, one year we hit -40C for a month straight, and I did have to crack a hole so the gases could escape. If you have fish, you really want to have some kind of gas exchange, which is done via a non-iced portion. Fish also want a little O2. So I kill 2 birds with 1 stone by running the small aerator all winter.

[@shineyrocks390]

Quick question and I think i already know the answer... Im moving to the Nevada desert and there is literally no soil. Would permaculture live soil building work there. Layers of good bio mass with cardboard and logs on the bottom and start building soil from the rock bottom up?

[@nmnate]

I'd skip the cardboard. It doesn't really break down well if it's really dry. Just go for straight wood chips if you can get them (I have to buy them). Just beware that some parts of the southwest have some pretty gnarly bedrock a few feet below the surface. I was pretty lucky in that we only have it in a small area on one side of our property. In case you haven't figured it out yet... drip irrigation is absolutely essential 👍

[@Debbie-henri]

Whatever organic material you can get your hands on for free. I started my 2 acre garden with a third of it exposed rock and the rest was just an inch or two of weedy turf. It took me a very long time to build up soil, mainly because unlike most areas, tree fellers local to me want to sell wood chips at shop prices. I understand that you can get them free a lot of the time in North America. Cardboard might dry out in your desert climate, even underneath thick mulch. And not only would that hinder it's breakdown, but I would be wondering where the rain from a sudden fall would go if your land is at all inclined. If you have the ability to shred it easily by mechanical means, all well and good. Investigate a really good chop and drop plant that grows well in your climate without taking over the entire neighbourhood. I found the more I looked for alternative sources of organic matter, the more I found, to the point of dragging home roadkill to bury (we don't have coyotes in Scotland, so it's quite safe to do here), and doing a sort of toilet composting as well. That's a practice that takes a bit of getting used to, but will really help your impoverished desert soil. Keeping caged bunnies and feeding them kitchen scraps and edible local scrub will turn it into pelleted soil conditioner of course. My 6 old guinea pigs produced mountains of soil conditioning matter, whilst the animals themselves entertained my exhuberant little nieces.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Some great answers already. I agree with them completely. In fact, I would say that doing it is even more important in Nevada, because it's the only way you'll get soil building going... you need to get moisture in the ground, and the only way to do that is to protect it with mulch. Just make sure you don't go all carbon... get a good source of nitrogen down in there also, whether that's compost or manure, or harvested plants... whatever you can get your hands on. If you are starting fresh, on top of dead soil or rock, you will want both carbon and nitrogen together.

[@shineyrocks390]

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy thank God I paid attention to all of you guys especially Paul Guatchi and Jeoff Lawton and Charles Dowding and you included. I'll be bringing rabbits from my rabbitry and also I have sourced horse manure and it may or may not pay off but I signed up for Chip Drop. I'm going from Western South Dakota zone 4 to Henderson Nevada zone hot as hell and dry. Polar opposites but I think I can make it happen I'll just do everything in reverse and won't have to worry so much about any sub zero temps in the Henderson Nevada area. Not so much in reverse but going to be fun starting from bedrock up and some people may say that it won't be but I'm not a rookie and to me I see it as a fresh clean slate to get the soil built correctly the first time. Drip irrigation worries me because in the city they put so much chemicals in the water and in my opinion it is toxic sludge and killing people. I don't want to put that in my garden ever. It is illegal to catch water there. I'm thinking better to ask forgiveness than ask permission. Or a reverse osmosis water filtration system is an option. Even the rain water is not always safe to use now days. All I know is I want to grow my food in live soil organics no dig permaculture way. I'll do it it's gonna take time but it's well worth the wait! Thanks

[@shineyrocks390]

@@Debbie-henri thanks

[@nephilimPB]

Have rabbits but it's never been an issue for some reason. Maybe the dogs keep them on the run. I do have problems with moles... The tree does and when I tug at the trunk the whole thing comes up with all roots eaten. Any suggestions?

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Snakes. Habitat everywhere. Rock piles, and a source of shallow water. Bat boxes can help too, also depending on property size, fox dens.

[@johnransom1146]

How did you cut the drainage pipe?

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Just some heavy duty scissors.

[@Debbie-henri]

If it's not rabbits, it's deer, if it's not deer, it's voles. My tree protection methods are more elaborate. I have tried those curly-wurly tree guards - but something breaks them or steals them. Never worked out what does that. I modify plastic drinks bottles, since you can push them into the ground a little bit at the base, and stack them one on to of the other (I buy my trees very young, so it's easier to slip the bottles over the top.) That takes care of the voles and rabbits. The deer are trickier. As I haven't a job and receive no benefits either, I scour ditches and the local waterways for dumped wire fencing. That does for my most precious trees. I also scour old tree plantations for old tree guards still wrapped around saplings that didn't make it. A bit of modifying and manipulation, and they go over the skinnier trees. For the young pines and those trees and bushes that don't get the above, I use prunings from other trees, pushing them in the ground to make a mini forest of sticks around the tree to be protected. The deer might scrape their antlers against those if they want, but I notice they haven't done so yet. Another thing I'm trying this Autumn for the first time is disguising palatable trees amongst unpalatable plants. Nothing eats Weigela here, and it's great for pollinators - so I've enclosed a line of embattled young Hazel's in a swathe of Weigela cuttings shoved directly in the ground. Weigelas have an excellent strike rate here, so I don't have to worry about taking cuttings in pots, rooting powder, etc. they'll grow where they are, growing a bit faster than the Hazels, but keeping open enough to allow in good light. I'm quite sure the deer will walk right past these ones, and once they're well grown, Weigela isn't a hard plant to remove - if I want to.

[@CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

Great comment Debbie, as always!

[@juliehorney995]

We found that those plastic spiral protectors become brittle and crack after 2 years. Found 3 ft white plastic protectors for $8.85/pair USD at A.M. Leonard online. They look like corrugated pipe in white and pre-slit. Helps with visibility. (Credit: The Impatient Gardener)