deer ate my fig tree!

I planted a bare root fig tree last January and watched it grow over the summer. It is/was about 2 feet tall with lots of large leaves. The other night, the deer ate ALL of the leaves, twisted and stripped the branches and it looks like they tried to pull it out of the ground. Is there any hope of it surviving without its leaves and with the damage to its branches? Is there anything I can do to help it recover?

Thanks!

There is always hope -- that is why we are gardeners. I see fencing on your Santa list.

It just may recover. I usually prune my fig trees severely in January to control their size & they come right back. Are the roots firmly in the ground? If so, it will probably come back. Until it gets some size on it, you may want to put a barrier around it. Even chicken wire would work.

And I thought I had problems with possums eating my figs!!
Jo-Ann

I'm hoping too! Yes, I think I will have to fence in all of my fruit trees! It's 90 degrees here with plenty to eat, yet they stripped this little guy. No telling what they'll do in the winter and there are plenty of deer in these woods. Is there a prettier way than chicken wire to make a fence? Most of my trees are in the front lawn.

There are many ways to fence plants. The more money you have to spend the better looking and fancier it can be. Chicken wire just happens to be a cheap cheap quick way.

is there a happy medium between chicken wire and not a lot of money to spend? :)

There are many sorts of colored fencing, if that would be fancier in your opinion.
You would need to go to the local hardware stored and price the material that you like,

A few hints:
Black and the darkest colors sort of disappear, so you would not see it. (That is the nicest look, to me!)
The fencing might not have to go to the ground, several inches up will still stop the deer.
It should be taller than your local deer.
It will need to be staked to hold it away from the plant. The new leaves might grow through the mesh and the new leaves are the tastiest, to the deer.
Choose sturdy stakes that you will be able to pull out of the ground and reuse.

Plan on moving the fencing as the tree grows. You might buy the larger roll of fencing, and only use half of it while the tree is small, but add on to it each year to make a larger fence. Zip ties work well,

Eventually you can probably get rid of the fencing. The tree is tall enough that deer could eat the lower leaves, but the upper part is too high.

A cylinder fashioned of hardware cloth or rabbit wire will work. Overlap the ends so the size can be increased as the tree grows. A couple of lengths of rebar or a single T-post will secure it. Don’t drive the post too deep and after a ground-softening rain you can wiggle it back and forth and pull it easily with your hands. I have used tomato cages made of concrete reinforcement wire to protect young pecan trees.

Deer are mainly browsers. What they prefer, I believe, depends on the weather and what’s on the menu. They like end shoots and buds that are to make next year’s leaves and fruits. After a set gets a little size and age, they probably won’t bother it anymore. They like young tender stuff.

I find venison–especially the young tender stuff–tasty, cheap, and handy.

The fig tree and the deer are blessings.

I also have problems with deer, I mean a lot of them in my area. They ate just about everything. After tried motion sensor sprinkler, spray, I found fence is the best, though it is not pretty. Later I tried bird net covering some of my shrubs. so far it appears to be working. It is pretty low cost, low tech way of fending the deer away from the plants. The black color of the net and thin threads blend in very well, you have to look real close to see the net.