It’s time to start to protect your trees!  What you want to do is to protect the trunks of young trees against a variety of unfortunate things that could happen.

Here in the woods, we have put on tree protectors already because of the pressure from the deer.   Bucks will come and rub their antlers up against the bark of young trees.  Once you have seen a buck rub on your newly planted tree, you will be devastated.  A mark about 12″-18″ long up and down the side of the tree.  Depending on the tree and how deep the wound is – a tree may be able to recover and heal over from being “attacked” by the deer – but it will have a scar forever.

The other calamaties that can happen to these young trees include being dinner for the rabbits and mice in the winter when food is scarce and sun scald.   Mice will be under the snow and can nibble the bark down close to the ground.  Rabbits will do the same, only on their level.  Be aware though during the winter that when drifts start to form, rabbits can nibble on trees – 2′-3′ up by sitting on top of the snow!  

The damage caused by sun scald can severely damage a tree.  The warm late winter sun can warm the trunk causing the sap to start to run prematurely.  Then when the temperature dips to below freezing, the sap freezes, causing the bark to crack.  We refer to this as frost cracking.  Just like an antler rub from the deer, this causes a scar that will be with the tree for years.

To protect your trees, you need to wrap them.  We use a variety of white tree wraps.  Why white?  White will repel the rays of the sun.  You do not want to use anything black, or clear because it will warm the trunk up even more.  Make sure you get the wrap as close to the ground as you can and start wrapping up for 3′-4′. 

Wrap your trees now if you have deer pressure, or late Sept/Oct.  Remove the wraps in the spring.  We store ours in garbage bags – put them on the shelf in the garage and they are ready for installation again in the fall.  Most of our wraps last about 4-5 years, making it an affordable option for protecting your trees.

We have spiral wraps, 2′, 3′ & 4′ corrugated protectors and 4′ flat corrugated protectors.  Which one do you use?   The size of your tree will determine the most appropriate protector.  We are open 7 days a week!  Stop in and select the ones that will protect your trees.