Some great info about tree collars
Copied email with kind offer of tubex nature shelters
Hi Melanie,
We have mostly used Tubex’s Nature shelters to date as well as a few Vigilis Bio shelters. You’ll need 1.2m shelters if the main threat is from roe deer. If there’s red deer you might need to go bigger but these are pretty big and I tend to use the smallest shelter we can, to make sure the trees don’t get too drawn up and spindly when they emerge.
We are looking at some new shelters for this season called Tree Hugger and Rainbow’s Terra shelter – which appear to be more biodegradable and compostable on site compared with the Tubex but the science around it all is a bit baffling when comparing one with another. We haven’t used those new ones yet so they’re untested by us.
Most of those 1.2m shelters are pretty narrow compared with a hand span so I’m not sure they will fit around the trees. The shelters come nested in 5s so they become progressively narrower from about 15-20mm diameter.
We haven’t really looked into wider individual protection as most of the trees we plant in those situations are whips/saplings. We have carried planting using large posts (x3 or x4) which encircle fruit trees which are then wrapped in tall weld mesh and stapled to the posts – more work and cost than an individual shelter with a 1.5m stake to support it. The attached photo shows the type of thing.
Another option we’re heard about but not used is the cactus guards
Tree guard livestock, tree protector livestock - Cactus Tree Guards, Cumbria, UK
These look pretty vicious, and we’ve shied away from this for that reason, particularly if there’s any public access involved.
Another new product we’ve heard about is a spray on treatment called Trico. It’s made from sheep fat and it is sprayed on trees and is unpalatable to deer (and sheep). It needs someone with a spraying certificate to administer it and it’ll probably need applying twice a year.
Another method being trialled at the moment is wrapping untreated wool around the growing tips of the tree/shrub. Deer apparently don’t like it. This is volunteer friendly and can be fitted around whatever size/shape (that wouldn’t go in a normal tree shelter). We haven’t trialled it and it might be difficult to do en mass for 1000s of trees but in your situation might be worth trying…?
If you’ve got rabbits on site as well, then the Trico and wool probably won’t be very effective against them and you’d need something else (like a shorter shelter 0.6m) as well!
Please let me know if you’ve got any queries. We do have some Tubex Nature shelters at our office in Trafford Park and I’m sure we could spare 5 of them (with the stakes) if you wanted to try them out.
If you do try the wool option, we would be interested in hearing how you get on.
tree guards
Regard
Andy
Andrew Long
Woodlands Officer
City of Trees team
city of trees website
t: 0161 872 1660
m: 07770 903 542
Unit 3, Discovery Works, Third Ave, Trafford Park, Stretford, Manchester M17 1BW