Christina
My personal preference is for a chicken wire guard. This can be made
into a tube and surround the trunk of the young tree. It will last
ages - which is useful if rabbits are actually the culpret. I prefer
the chicken wire over the spiral tree guards or the solid tubes because
you can see the trunk, it doesn't degrade and can be removed to weed
around it. I have seen spirals left on trees where they have dug into
the trunk and strangled the tree. To keep the weed down a mulch of
gravel around the young tree helps - and seems to deter the presence of
rodents - as there is no vegatative cover for them

Clifford
Bawtry, Doncaster, South Yorkshire