In article et, "BE"
wrote:
Howdy, I'm in western NJ (Hunterdon County) and have a small, not quite sure
what type Maple tree that has at times, (last fall most recent,) fallen prey
to male deers, (rubbed.)
I've posted some pics he http://www.pbase.com/hiker/tree
Is this something I need to treat? If so how/what to do?
Thanks, I appreciate any feedback.
I've been having this same problem. One birch had been visited at least
two years in a row in the antler-shedding seasons & the bark is rubbed off
two-thirds of the way around. Those bucks seem to remember where they did
it before & return to rub the same tree -- & that means your maple could
be at risk of a return rub so that a wound it might heal will not be
permitted to do so, but will be made larger.
In the past couple of weeks, an apple tree & another birch had major
limbs broken off by the elk. For one tree, it looked like an elk had to
stand on its hind feet to break off the limb about eight feet up,
apparently so as to bring down & eat fresh young leaves that had just
emerged at the top of the limb only.
Our general attitude at SinLur Gardens has been to tolerate the elk bands
& plant in such a manner as to not be feeding them on purpose. Apart from
breaking or rubbing trees the only plants they've eaten to the point of
destruction are the roses, which aren't my favorite things anyway. A large
area of muscaris they also ate off all the flowers & some of the muscari
grass, so an area with lots of blue flowers one morning suddenly had not
even one blue flower. Annoying, but not the end of the world.
They haven't ruined much that was done in permanently, but I sort of feel
like I'm waiting for them to destroy something really wonderful, THEN
it'll be interesting to see how tolerant I & the owners of SinLur feel. So
I felt the need to ask around the county among some grower friends, plus
do some on-line investigating, to see if any product, amidst many that are
complete hokum, is notably effective at repelling deer & elk.
There are many local growers whose extensive fields of ornamental stocks
are at considerable risk from elk & deer here in Kitsap County. I've
talked to three growers who swear by a product called Plantskydd (these
growers are not vendors so they have no invested reason to tell me the
stuff works). Three satisfied users does not a field study make, but it
got me interested in checking out the product.
A study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research in 1999,
& a forestry industry study in Canada in 1994, showed the product to be an
effective deer, moose, elk & rabbit repellant for up to six months between
applications. The Plantskkydd website reproduces the complete texts of
some of the studies so that it's possible to judge whether their own
paraphrases of the "proofs" are fudged; that was good information, though
the numerous gardener "testimonials" are meaningless; if personal
testimonials meant anything real, then sasquatches are certainly real. But
independent field studies provide valuable info.
Numerous studies have shown that bloodmeal is a genuinely effective
repellant, but nasty-tasting stuff like garlic & pepper sauce & all sorts
of similar recipes are next to worthless. Bloodmeal is available cheaply
apart from a product like Plantskydd, which uses bloodmeal as its active
ingredient, but isn't cheap. The local growers however claim the
Plantskydd honestly doesn't need application very often, while the
manufacturer claims that as a foliar spray it functions as fertilizer, so
from the plants' point of view it's just a nice organic component of a
healthful environment.
-paghat the ratgirl
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