Bark fruit trees in the winter season it becomes a tasty morsel for rodents. Attacks by hares or mice can jeopardize the viability of the plant. That is why every summer resident needs to know how to protect apple trees from hares in winter and what shelters should be made for this.
The bark performs one of the most important functions for a plant, namely, transporting water and nutrients from the roots to the top of the trunk. If the integrity of such a layer is violated, the tree begins to experience a lack of nutrition. In addition, there is no protection against harmful bacteria and fungi, which can easily penetrate the plant trunk.
All of these points show that without strong protective bark, trees simply won't survive. Rodents often eat the bark around the perimeter, which means that the connection with the root system is completely disrupted. In this case, it is quite difficult to save the tree, in some cases it is impossible. It is also dangerous that pests usually prefer to nibble young seedlings, because the bark on them is softer and juicier. After such "processing" the planted sprout will certainly die, therefore, the protection of the tree trunk from the encroachments of mice and hares is also an integral procedure for winter preparation.
It is especially important to protect the apple tree seedling, because this tree is the most attractive to rodents. Stone fruit crops: plum, cherry, apricot, noticeably give off a bitterness, so they will not be so desirable for mice and hares. Most often, it is young apple trees that are attacked by pests, so their protection will be the primary task of the gardener.
How to protect an apple tree from mice and hares for the winter
Methods for protecting apple trees from mice are varied. This is facilitated by technical progress, as well as the natural ingenuity of gardeners who use a wide variety of different ways and combinations thereof. There is no perfect recipe, so it is worth trying several at once. In any case, measures to ensure the safety of the trunk are much less laborious than to save a young seedling. To ensure the protection of apple trees for the winter, gardeners use different ways... The information provided will help you choose the best method for protecting the apple tree.
Mechanical methods
Verified and reliable method- protect the trunk of the apple tree with a net or polyethylene. For this, a metal or nylon fine mesh is used. It must be dug into the barrel circle, and also wrap the barrel with a metal wire mesh to a height of at least 80-100 centimeters. This is exactly the amount of the affected area of trees by large rodents. To prevent the mice from getting to the roots of plants through the snow passages, it is periodically worth tamping the crust around the tree with your feet.
Instead of a mesh, you can use roofing material, thick film or trim plastic bottles... The shelter is tightly fixed from above and below with tape or wire. It is best to use materials that allow light and moisture to pass through, otherwise the wood may overheat and heat up. That is why such shelters are removed with the onset of warming, and this weakens protection from rodents, which are especially actively looking for any suitable food at the end of winter and early spring.
To protect the young bole, wrap it with thick paper and put additional mesh fences. Such protection works equally well against frost and possible pests.
The use of a special covering material - lutrasila to protect the trunks and branches of young seedlings is discussed in the attached video. This will help keep the tree out of the cold and will also provide adequate protection against rodents.
Scare-off methods
Knowing the features and types of pests that can harm trees, you can use more simple ways... To protect yourself from hares, you should play on the fearfulness of this animal. The role of the "scarecrow" will be perfectly performed by plastic bags different colors tied to the lower branches of the tree. You can build sound traps using cans and other devices. The main thing is that the sound does not interfere with the neighbors and you for a relaxing pastime. For more effective protection it is worth combining such methods together with other methods in order to guarantee that even the most daring hare will get rid of it.
Smell repelling will be more effective. Animals are extremely sensitive to various kinds of strong odors, and some categorically cannot stand it even at a distance. Ready-made and homemade mixes are suitable blends for "aromatherapy".
Odor repelling options:
- Natural aromatic spices. For this, mint, coriander, elderberry and wild rosemary are used. Any of these plants can be simply tied to the trunk, and a concentrated solution can be prepared to spray the bark and root area. It is advisable to repeat this treatment several times per season, especially after heavy rainfall.
- A dense mixture of clay and cow dung will also provide excellent trunk protection. To do this, it is bred to the state of cement and the trunk circle is well treated. After hardening, it forms a layer that is unappetizing from the point of view of rodents.
- Sawdust soaked in kerosene or turpentine will also act as a deterrent. To do this, they need to be updated periodically.
- Spraying with copper sulfate or Bordeaux mixture will also repel pests. It is also good prevention characteristic diseases, as well as the elimination of pest larvae. For effective protection, spraying is carried out before the onset of frost. The liquid consumption is quite significant: for young seedlings from 2-3 liters, for big trees- up to 10 liters per plant.
- You can hang mothballs or pre-cut plastic bottles on a tree. You can also put this substance in them, as well as use kerosene or turpentine.
These methods are simple and effective. In addition, they are quite humane, because animals simply do not approach such a zone. in addition, mice do not like the smells of fish oil, fat and blood, strong essential oils are also quite suitable.
Use of pesticides
The use of toxic substances is not always desirable, but in some cases it is simply necessary. If it comes about a creeping apple tree, the shoots of which are covered with a non-woven cloth to the ground, a colony of mice under it is capable of completely destroying the plant during the winter season. That is why purchased and self-prepared poisons can be used to protect the apple tree from rodents in winter.
What mixtures are used:
- Purchased poison of the type "Rat Death", "Ratobor" and "Storm". Used according to the manufacturer's instructions. It is recommended to restrict access to pets, as well as to place traps with poison out of the reach of children.
- A mixture of plaster and flour, to which a little is added to attract pests vegetable oil... Such balls are prepared immediately before use, laid out near burrows and near tree trunks.
- For two parts flour, take six parts quicklime and one part sugar. Roll the resulting mixture into small balls and also spread out in places where rodents accumulate.
Work with poisons must be performed using protective equipment... Do not use pesticides if the bait can be eaten by pets living nearby. In addition, one should take into account the possible toxic effect on the soil, so poisons are the least preferred way to control rodents. They are used only in highly overgrown mouse colonies and in sparsely populated areas.
Restoring bark on trees
If you did not succeed in protecting the apple tree from rodents in winter, do not despair. Small damage is easy to heal on your own, which will not affect the quality and volume of the crop.
What you need for this:
- Damaged trunks are covered up garden pitch or paint.
- Boil linden bark and make a "compress" from thick paper on the damaged part of the trunk.
- You can use birch tar.
- In case of severe injuries, grafting is done with a bridge. This will preserve the life support of the plant.
If you failed to save the tree, the best option will cut the trunk just above the last bud. Next year, a strong lateral escape will go from it, which will give further development... Of course, it will be easier and cheaper to organize a suitable protection for apple trees from rodents than to suffer such losses from their invasion in the garden.
It is imperative for young apple trees to provide reliable protection bark from rodent pests. They eat up the trunk and deprive it of its natural protection and nutrition, and this entails disease and even death of the plant. Young saplings especially suffer from attacks of mice and hares, so they should definitely be protected from uninvited visitors. How to do it, the most proven and available ways discussed in our information.
Russian harsh winters often force gardeners to use new methods of saving trees from severe frosts... And no less danger to apple trees. Cherry trees are represented by small rodents such as mice. One way is to plant the cherries at a 45-degree angle to form a crown in a semi-creeping shape. In addition, it is better to plant them on the upper or middle part of the slope near southern border garden, where there is usually more snow in winter.
Autumn work in the garden must be completed by digging grooves around the trees along the projection of the crowns, the depth of the grooves should be about 12 cm. Into this groove on equal distance flat pegs with a height of 1 meter are hammered from each other, the pegs should be located at a distance of 70-80 cm from each other. Roofing paper is stretched along these pegs with a snake and fixed with small carnations. The edge, which is in the groove, is covered with earth. After the snow falls, it is thrown into the inside of the circle, this will help protect the root system from frost, and the roofing will not allow mice to penetrate the roots.
This device does not allow melt water to spread throughout the garden, it remains inside the circle and is absorbed into the near-stem area. In spring, when night frosts are not uncommon, during flowering tree crowns can be covered with plastic wrap.
Mice and hares are a threat to the garden in winter. We are taking action.
Spring is coming, we get to ours garden plot and with anxiety we begin to examine our overwintered trees. What a grief overtakes us if we see our beloved trees gnawed. All this is done by mice and hares. If the mice gnaw the bark, then the hares eat the young twigs. How can we protect our garden from destruction?
It is necessary to start the fight for trees in the spring, when hungry mice attack any food. It's time to decompose the poisoned bait. There is a wide variety of them on sale. The bait should be laid out in places inaccessible to birds, covered with boards, bricks. It must be borne in mind that the crow is a strong bird and can lift a large load. Warning! If you bring a cat to the dacha, or other people's cats come to you, then you cannot fight with mice with poisoned bait. Having caught a poisoned mouse, and the mice do not die from the bait immediately, the cat will also die. In this case, you can fight mice using mousetraps, which is less effective.
But the main work to protect apple trees, honeysuckle, cherries and other fruits and berries from rodents begins in late autumn. The trunk and skeletal branches must be protected. For this, nylon tights, roofing felt, roofing felt are useful. Plastic bottles will also work. Their neck and bottom are cut off, they themselves are cut along. The bottles are stacked on top of each other and tied tightly. In the places where the trunk transitions to the skeletal branches, the necessary cut is made in the bottles.
We also protect the stem of the tree: we deepen the roofing paper or a plastic bottle into the ground and add it tightly. You can use spruce branches to cover the trunks, tying it to the trunk with the needles down. It is necessary to close the tree carefully, mice can damage the bark, not only the one that will be under the snow, but also above. Wrap very young landings with tights completely!
The easiest way to scare away hares in winter is to tie black ones to tree branches plastic bags by the handles. The black color on the white snow is far visible, and in the cold, even with a slight breeze, they will flutter and rustle, scaring away hares. In winter, it is advisable to periodically trample the snow around the trees. This makes it difficult for mice to move under the snow. In early spring as soon as the snow melts, you need to remove everything that protected your trees. Otherwise, the trunk will begin to overheat, and the buds, if the tree has been completely wrapped, will bloom prematurely.
You must admit that it is quite a shame to run around the markets and garden shops all spring, looking for a pretty apple tree, the variety that suits you, in the endless sea of crooked, deformed seedlings. Then plant it, water it, feed it and spray it, collect harmful caterpillars and aphids in the summer ... And all just so that in the spring you will be convinced that not only you and your friends, but also hares from the nearest forest appreciated the apple tree planted with such love.
Which trees do the hares gnaw and which ones do not touch?
In a hungry year, these irrepressible rodents are able to completely destroy young plantings of apple trees and other fruit trees. The main object of desire of every decent hare is an apple tree and an apricot. The next, in terms of attractiveness, can be considered cherry, plum, sweet cherry. They can taste it and decorative trees and shrubs. And the pear is touched very rarely, almost never.
But besides hares, which gnaw buds and bark, they harm apple trees (and other trees) and mice. At the same time, mice can eat the bark in a ring at ground level, which leads to the inevitable death of the tree.
The following methods help from hares and mice:
1. Wrap the barrel with a net, preferably metal, with a fine mesh. it is better that the cell size is in the region of 1-2 centimeters, then, in addition to hares, we will also protect ourselves from mice. The disadvantage of this method is that the mesh is not cheap. A fine-mesh mesh is rather inconvenient and takes a long time to cut without special scissors. BUT plastic mesh mice can gnaw. Hares, with a strong desire, can also, but this is already unlikely.
2. Wrap apple tree boles with nylon tights, stockings, etc. Pretty good and reliable way... Gnawing nylon is not to hares' taste, nor to mice. Nylon is simply secured with adhesive tape. Under the nylon cover, the tree trunk will not get damp or wet.
3. Wrap the trunk with roofing felt. This method will protect against hares, but the conditions under the roofing material are not the most favorable for the tree. The bark can become damp, the roofing material can become very hot in the sun, which is fraught with frost cracks.
4. Smelly-odorous mixtures are also used for scaring away. I haven't tried it myself, I won't lie, but I've read this recipe. Take naphthalene 300 grams, laundry soap - 3 kg, vegetable oil - 2 liters, and half a liter of turpentine. All this hellish mixture is dissolved, or more correctly, kneaded, in 10 liters of water and then coated with by this tree trunks.
5. Hares are known for their noisyness, therefore they use the method of scuffling hares by hanging sheets of black paper on threads. Such paper moves in the wind and hares are scared to a heart attack. (Sometimes in the spring you can find a whole wheelbarrow of rabbits that have been buzzed to death under an apple tree?) ...
Well, jokes are jokes, but the method actually helps, but only from hares. From mice - it does not work, mice run under the snow, and gnaw on the bark below the level of the snow, so they simply do not see the hanging papers.
6. Method - only from mice. Can be combined with method 5, which is only for hares. If you live next to your plantings in winter, then as the snow falls, it is necessary to carefully trample the snow around the trunk, so that the mice cannot easily dig the hole. also, under the apple tree, smelly scarers are laid out, which mice do not like very much. These are black root, coriander, elderberry, mint.
In addition to rodents, wintering apple trees have other problems. It is, oddly enough, frost and sun, a wonderful day ... It is on such a wonderful calm day, especially in the second half of winter, when the sun is already noticeably warming, the dark trunks of apple trees can get very hot. And in the evening, when the sun sets, and the frosts are crackling, such apple trees receive damage to the trunks from sharp drop temperatures - frost. In such places, the bark cracks, lags behind. In severe cases, the tree dies.
Garden whitewashing will help protect trees from frost damage. Old trees can be whitewashed with any ready-made whitewash, since they are sold in abundance in stores. But with young apple trees, you need to be careful, some compounds can be toxic to young bark. On the one hand, they are good for whitewashing water-based paints, but again there should be no potentially harmful components in them. In what colors are they not, in which ones are they? I don’t know, and I doubt that anyone will accurately answer this question.
Therefore, for now, I will whitewash the apple trees with ordinary or slaked lime. Well, maybe I'll try on some, not the most valuable, composition from the store? ...
In addition to apple trees, in middle lane and to the north, cherry trees need mandatory whitewashing. They are more likely than other trees in our gardens to suffer from frost damage to the bark of the trunk.
Now a few words about the shelter of the roots. Root zone, which is approximately equal to the diameter of the tree crown, it is desirable to insulate. At least in frozen apple varieties. It is not advisable to use grass, hay, leaf litter to cover the roots. The fact is that such material quickly begins to rot with the release of heat, which contributes to the early awakening of the roots. it is better to use peat or sawdust. Although these measures should be taken if enough snow did not fall before the onset of frost ... But we do not know whether it will snow before or after frost.
Thus, having protected the apple trees from rodents, from the sun and from frost, we can be almost sure that in the spring the tree will delight us with a white flower cloud, and in the fall - with red ruddy apples?