"Joy Hardie" wrote in message
...
What should I do to keep the deer and other animals from eating my
newly planted apple trees. The trees are only about 4' and very
small. We live in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan and on a ravine that
gets quite alot of deer traffic. I saw some plastic mesh at the store
that the guy said keeps deer away.. ...a "deer repelling mesh that you
drape over the tree." Or, should I put a fence around the tree? How
high and what diameter do you suggest. How big does the tree have to
be before I don't need to worry?
Many thanks,
Joy

Anything should work. Small trees are often killed by rabbits in the
winter, chewing their bark, so you should wrap.
I don't think deer normally eat apple leaves but if hungry will eat anything
growing. A mature buck can kill a large tree, maybe diameter up to 6
inches, with antler rubs. Small fence would work best. Deer love apples,
so you will have to fight them for the harvest.
Frank