I have just discovered that three of my one to two year old trees have suffered damage. I live in the midwest and suspect cottontails as the culprits. Two of the trees are young japanese maples. One of them has pretty much had all of the terminal growing shoots cut cleanly off. The other has suffered only one such cut. Oddly, a thornless honey-locust was been cut completely in two, midway up the main trunk. The diameter of its trunk was approx 1/3" inch. All of the cuts are clean and at an approximate 45 degree angle. Am I correct in my suspicions of rabbits? I have never seen a deer in our neighborhood. Finally, is the most severly damaged tree a goner? As I stated, every single growing shoot/limb has been cut as though the tree was extremely trimmed back. BKFisher
Four of my own young trees were similarly damaged by a hare this past year I belatedly surrounded them with netting to prevent further damage I am hopeful that they will recover Presumably they will 'bush' where the growing tips have been eaten off Keep your fingers crossed and take steps to prevent further damage
If the maples are browsed above rabbit height then maybe deer. You need tall fencing for those, fine mesh for the rabbits. Supposedly deer may wriggle under loose netting so the point where the wire meets the ground needs to be secured for both kinds to be excluded. It is amazing how animals will come from among acres of natural food bearing little, if any conspicuous damage to zero in on planted specimens and defoliate, strip, gnaw or otherwise spoil them, but nevertheless a fact that has to be dealt with.
[/QUOTE]It is amazing how animals will come from among acres of natural food bearing little, if any conspicuous damage to zero in on planted specimens and defoliate, strip, gnaw or otherwise spoil them, but nevertheless a fact that has to be dealt with.[/QUOTE] I have had rabbits do this and also gnaw around the base of a young maple. I wrap all of my maples and any other "deer" magnets, like azaleas and chamaecyparis with floating row cover or burlap until they are too big to wrap. The thing that really bugs me about rabbits and deer is that they don't seem to eat what they destroy. I had them ruin one chamy. that was quite old (I didn't wrap this one, of course) and all the pieces were lying around on the ground. Sometimes gardening seems like a war. Kay Dye
