need some opinions

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Kathleen Panama, NY(Zone 5a) Oct 30, 2008

I have several little trees in pot: very small Japanese maples, bigger sugar maples, biggest oak (don't know the variety of oak). Some of them have been overwintered outside the last few years, and have suffered squirrel damage. I have an unheated building with a large glass door on the east side that I am considering as an alternative to outdoors. I am hesitant as we can get very cold and the pots won't be under snow, but then again, the squirrels won't eat them off. Any help with this dilemma is welcome.

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Hemophobic Kannapolis, NC Nov 02, 2008

Pardon my asking, but is there a reason you're keeping these in pots as opposed to putting them in the ground? As long as you don't forget to water them, the unheated building sounds like the solution.

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Kathleen Panama, NY(Zone 5a) Nov 02, 2008

They are all seedlings started in pots. Thanks for weighing in.

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snapple45 Holland, OH(Zone 5b) Nov 02, 2008

I plunge my pots and put a chicken wire cage over the tops. Chicken wire is cheap. Burying the pots insulates the roots. The chicken wire keeps rabbits and squirrels out and allows snow cover to accumulate. Rabbits are so bad here in the winter at eating the bark that I have to put wire cages around the trunks of nearly every tree except the big oaks. I'm lucky that I have a 6' x 12' strip behind a storage that sits in a privacy fenced corner. That's my pot plunge area. The small pots are easy to bury and pull up in the spring. With big ones I have to have help getting them up. I found that by digging down on one side and levering a plank underneath you can ( with help) slide the pot up the plank. It's a nice feeling when I get them all secured for winter. Every once in a while if the snow isn't too deep I check on them just to remind me that spring will come eventually.

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