My last Franklinia was browsed to pieces by deer. When I planted this one I noticed the same thing was happening. I had a spiral trunk protector but nothing for the branches...till I came up with this idea: Blackberry brambles! So far it is working. I had been pulling and burning those spikey things till I thought of this.
Innovative! Have you ever smelled the old Lifebouy soap? I bought some from a catalog last Christmas (Vermont Country Store) as a nostalgic stocking stuffer gift for my DH. That stuff is THE WORST SMELLING soap I've ever encountered. It makes your eyes water. Really! It fumed up the entire bathroom and part of the first floor of the house. No wonder it's no longer available in stores. I'll bet absolutely anything that if you hung this stuff in a nylon stocking bag the deer wouldn't come anywhere near it. And the stink lasts and lasts and lasts. It was the gift that truly kept on giving.
Anyway - You're pretty clever.
I'm gonna take some twine and wind some around the trunks of my peach tree...Last year the squirrels climbed up and removed every single peach before any ripened. I have a little surprise in mind for their furry little bellies...
I have successfully used 2x4 welded wire fencing and placing it 6 to 8" off the ground with stakes about 5' out from the tree. This discourages any nearby browsers because they wont step on the wire mesh. I used annuals to hide the fence from sight. Worked well.
Now that's cool! I put black bird netting, loosley rumpled, at the base of an out door inflatable Christmas ornament to trip up a night time vandal. It's virtually invisible on the ground after dark. Ever try to walk on that stuff? It catches and tangles on your shoes and can throw you flat on your face before you know what hits you. It did the job. Animals would not cross it either. The four legged kind.
I had a big black racer snake get caught up in some netting I was using. Boy was he mad! Even with leather gloves it was hard for me to get him out because the netting had snagged in his under belly scales and he was real wiggly and feisty.
Another time a hawk flew into a netted area I had placed around my tomatoes and he kept flying into the net to get out. He did escape before becoming entangled but I wasn't looking forward to untangling him either.
I'm tellin ya - that stuff can have unexpected consequences! Some of it good and some of it not so good. I hope you can outwit the squirrels and get a peach crop this year.
That is why I use Welded 2x4 nothing gets tangled but the deer feet and they leave quickly and never to taste from the tree of Knowledge.
