Klytus
Omono
Hedgehogs,could be construed a kind of small bear i surpose.
Portable greenhouses
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Dav4
Drop Branch Murphy
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There are others (reptiles, gophers, skunks), but bears are the most well known. As far as I know rabbits are not one of them.
Dave
Attila Soos
Omono
Marmots...
What me to send you a Coyote, no more small animal problems......
keep it green,
Harry
I thought lots of mammals hibernated? Hmm...
I know others have problems with rabbits, rats, etc. Was just wondering if people worried about these critters wreaking havoc on their trees while overwintered outside of a permanent structure.
I know others have problems with rabbits, rats, etc. Was just wondering if people worried about these critters wreaking havoc on their trees while overwintered outside of a permanent structure.
Attila Soos
Omono
That's always a possibility, but I wouldn't worry about it until it happens. Then I would deal with it. These things always happen when you least expect it, so if you sit and wait for the rabbit, it will never come.
But it will show up when you don't think about it anymore.
That's what critters do.
Dav4
Drop Branch Murphy
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My biggest pest issue during the winter (for trees kept in my garage) is mice...they can quickly strip the bark from maples and fruit trees if allowed to. I routinely set traps in/around my stored collection...it helped but I always had some minor damage. I have heard that mothballs can act as a deterent to mice...be careful as they are highly toxic to your pets if ingested. I should also mention that some of my trees growing out in the yard have been damaged by various animals over the winter months. Rabbits would routinely prune any fruit tree branches above the snow...deer will do the same thing, but may also dine on other deciduous trees and certain evergreens, like yew, arborvitae, and even juniper. The best way to keep these critters away from your trees is some kind of fence, wire or otherwise.
Dave
Dave
rockm
Spuds Moyogi
Dav is correct.
This is a definite problem with shelters. They draw mice. Mice can decimate trees in storage without your even knowing it. They tend to burrow beneath the mulch line and chew off bark on trees. They can be selective, preferring "sweet" trees like maples and other deciduous trees that have high sugar content. Apples and fruit trees are the most favored.
They won't tackle more mature trees with tougher bark --if there are easier pickings around.
The tighter and more weather proof the structure, the more attractive it is to mice.
Rabbits can also find trees in storage beds in the winter (rabbits don't hibernate--and get VERY hungry in the winter. I've got them all around in the winter, but they don't venture into the backyard, as I block the spaces under the fence with railroad ties to prevent wind. That leaves them with no way to escape, so they stay away. Chicken wire barriers placed all the way around storage beds six inches out from the enclosed trees' branch ends, anchored with metal staples will probably protect your trees.
This is a definite problem with shelters. They draw mice. Mice can decimate trees in storage without your even knowing it. They tend to burrow beneath the mulch line and chew off bark on trees. They can be selective, preferring "sweet" trees like maples and other deciduous trees that have high sugar content. Apples and fruit trees are the most favored.
They won't tackle more mature trees with tougher bark --if there are easier pickings around.
The tighter and more weather proof the structure, the more attractive it is to mice.
Rabbits can also find trees in storage beds in the winter (rabbits don't hibernate--and get VERY hungry in the winter. I've got them all around in the winter, but they don't venture into the backyard, as I block the spaces under the fence with railroad ties to prevent wind. That leaves them with no way to escape, so they stay away. Chicken wire barriers placed all the way around storage beds six inches out from the enclosed trees' branch ends, anchored with metal staples will probably protect your trees.
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Rick Moquin
Omono
When I built my cold frame I enveloped it with 1/4 galv. screening and have not had a problem with critters. The conifers have always wintered in the greenhouse (the latest and a portable before that) without any problems. Mind you I don't have a rabbit problem perse, but mice have been seen and I believe that one might have chewed (not sure) on one of my maples that is planted out.
Thanks for the tips. I have a ton of rabbits in my neighborhood, with at least two burrows on my small property. They have dug under the lattice work under my back porch, and quite easily under the roots of some of my holly bushes and landscape trees - so I wonder how effective chicken wire will be. In any evening coming home from work, I will see at least four rabbits on my block - and the way they breed, I'm sure there are lots more. They are pretty voracious eaters too - some landscape plants are constantly devoured, and some of the trees I've planted to grow out for bonsai have been "pruned" as well. Thankfully I don't have deer issues...
I might reconsider and just continue to put all my trees in the garage (except for my ponderosas, which I think I can just leave on my benches out of the reach of rabbits). I don't have a mice problem there, and won't have to worry about rabbits. I'll just have to keep an eye on temps, and leave the garage door or window open to keep temps as low as I can for as long as I can. I'm just really worried about leaving some of my pines and junipers out, because when I first started and had no benches, I left a bunch of pots on the ground and rabbits had come by and indiscriminately bitten off the trunks of my pines. They are cute little animals, but that wears off fast when you've seen what they can do.
Rick, I wish I had the space to build a permanent structure type of coldframe like you have - that was a really nice job you did. I unfortunately have a really small yard so can't build anything like that that would be permanent, because it would take up space I use for my benches now.
Either that, or maybe I'll have to borrow some coyotes from Harry
I might reconsider and just continue to put all my trees in the garage (except for my ponderosas, which I think I can just leave on my benches out of the reach of rabbits). I don't have a mice problem there, and won't have to worry about rabbits. I'll just have to keep an eye on temps, and leave the garage door or window open to keep temps as low as I can for as long as I can. I'm just really worried about leaving some of my pines and junipers out, because when I first started and had no benches, I left a bunch of pots on the ground and rabbits had come by and indiscriminately bitten off the trunks of my pines. They are cute little animals, but that wears off fast when you've seen what they can do.
Rick, I wish I had the space to build a permanent structure type of coldframe like you have - that was a really nice job you did. I unfortunately have a really small yard so can't build anything like that that would be permanent, because it would take up space I use for my benches now.
Either that, or maybe I'll have to borrow some coyotes from Harry
Dave is spot on with the moth ball trick. I take soup cans and fill them about half way with moth balls and place them around the benches in my winter storage....works like a charm...though the aroma is a little noxious.
Outside trees are really the ones that are hardest hit. We have deer and rabbits. My Akita Scooby keeps the rabbits away from the field grow trees...however the deer come late at night and Scoob is cutting wood at these times. So I decided that I would use concrete re-enforcing screen around each tree. It worked for most, but it would seem that deer have a particular affinity for Korean hornbeam and pushed on the screen hoops to enable them to reach the tender growth of that year...talk about pruning.
This year I'm trying a hoop style structure over my rows with shrink wrap...with a visual block and the hoops being 50ft long perhaps some of my hornbeams I'll get to prune in the spring
Outside trees are really the ones that are hardest hit. We have deer and rabbits. My Akita Scooby keeps the rabbits away from the field grow trees...however the deer come late at night and Scoob is cutting wood at these times. So I decided that I would use concrete re-enforcing screen around each tree. It worked for most, but it would seem that deer have a particular affinity for Korean hornbeam and pushed on the screen hoops to enable them to reach the tender growth of that year...talk about pruning.
This year I'm trying a hoop style structure over my rows with shrink wrap...with a visual block and the hoops being 50ft long perhaps some of my hornbeams I'll get to prune in the spring
Rick Moquin
Omono
... the window a good idea, the door not so much so,
... Mike my cold frame is against the house and is only 6 feet long by 3 feet wide. Do you have any room under your deck? Just a thought...Rick, I wish I had the space to build a permanent structure type of coldframe like you have - that was a really nice job you did. I unfortunately have a really small yard so can't build anything like that that would be permanent, because it would take up space I use for my benches now.
Either that, or maybe I'll have to borrow some coyotes from Harry
Rick Moquin
Omono
... I know it got rid of the squirrels we had in the attic at the camp. Fortunately the vapour barrier kept the fumes in the attic.
Hey Rick,
We tend to have pretty warm winters here, in the 30s-40s, with maybe a week or two at the most where it gets down below 20. I should have said that I would use the door at night only for a few hours to get the garage down a bit.
I do have some space under my deck, but it's pretty much a crawl space at about 2-3' high. Plus the ground there is super hard Virginia red clay, and I think I've got a family of rabbits living there
Tom, that really stinks about the deer - at least they go for the deciduous trees which tend to grow a bit faster than conifers. I would turn into Elmer Fudd and start hunting them if they touched my ponderosas or JBPs.
Attila Soos
Omono
You guys should be glad that we don't have elephants around here...
Just imagine a small herd "visiting" your backyard for a few hours (OOps, a baby elephant just stepped on my shohin...)
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You guys should be glad that we don't have elephants around here...
rockm
Spuds Moyogi
here's an bunny elimination option dreamed up by those wacky Swedes:
http://www.thelocal.se/22610/20091012/
Now THAT'S a green energy solution...
http://www.thelocal.se/22610/20091012/
Now THAT'S a green energy solution...
treebeard55
Chumono
Read down into the article and you see that the culling is done to protect trees and shrubs in the parks. And why not use the carcasses for something besides filling up landfills? However you say "Go for it!" in Swedish!
Tom, thanks for the confirmation on mothballs. We've moved to a new place with a sheltered back yard; I know there are mice and chipmunks. Unbaited mousetraps scare off the chip-pirates in summer, but in winter they may get more desperate and determined. I've got some trees I definitely don't want damaged, including a certain pair of collected yews. I'll ask my wife to start hanging onto soup cans.
The city of Warsaw is lousy with deer, but to get to my back yard they would have pass within a few feet of a couple of alert dogs. I don't think they'll try it, when the neighbors' landscaping is more accessible.
treebeard55
Chumono
First frost of the new season last nite; car windows had to be scraped when I took my daughter to Micky D's for pancakes. The cycles turn.
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