I just realized my A.p. Sharp’s pygmy has been eaten earlier this year by a deer. I thought it was in a protected spot, but I was mistaken. The last photo is the likely culprit on our wildlife camera, I see him often in the yard lately.
Sadly you just cannot have wildlife and maples co existing. Sorry to see your Sharps pigmy in such a sorrowful state N. Some strong wire netting needed !!? But the last photo is lovely to see, along with all your other wild animal photos in your garden.
Grr. Hate when this happens. It may still come back, if the top node is viable. I'd give it a try. You can fence it of course, as we do. Any maple left unfenced is destroyed. Here's a trick I learned in a fabulous private garden in Varangeville that we visited with the Maple Society. Put some cut brambles around and even over the young maple. It doesn't bother them at all, but the deer leave it alone. Easy to move on and off, looks a little messy for a while, but does a really good job.
There will definitely be a chicken wire cage around it in the spring... I also like the brambles idea! Even if it does not come back, I hope the rootstock survives and grows. I don’t mind.
How do we know this was deer damage? In my experience deer nibble tips of shoots, often only just clipping off parts of leaves. Also maples are listed as deer resistant (of course such things can vary). However on a residential property I just occupied on Saturday there is a deer fence around the orchard and vegetable beds because of what was described by the seller as strong deer pressure. With it being noticeable that there was a consistent, repeated use of Japanese maples (including a low growing example of a lace leafed cultivar) in the unprotected outer zone beyond the fence. I have see no sign of damage to these except for wounds on the trunk of one, perhaps from a buck rubbing off velvet. If this damage has anything to do with deer at all.
??? With all due respect, Ron B, I don’t think you have an understanding of what deer will or will not eat. Again, sorry if this seems disrespectful, but I strongly feel you have to live in an area constantly inhabited by deer to understand them. I do.
Boy, I'll say. I can't even begin to count the amount of damage deer do to maples here. We have twice been paid for damage by the hunters (they have a fund; this is France). We eat a lot of deer from the property. We call it "maple fed", and we're not kidding. They eat anything outside of protection. If I don't protect immediately, there's a very good chance that they'll bite back leaders just as in Nik's picture. Oh, they love roses too. I could go on...
Note I posted "Of course such things can vary". And really - where I live as of Saturday there is a large deer fence half circle enclosing fruit trees and vegetable beds because of the deer pressure here. With multiple different Japanese maples growing outside of this enclosure with no damage being evident (except for the one that might have had antlers rubbed on the trunk).
Perhaps it is the species of deer present that is the difference. I see that in the PNW the common deer are the mule/black-tailed deer. Here in the Northeast the white-tailed deer reign. I guess for France red deer is most frequent (not sure about this, so please correct me if I am wrong). It seems white-tailed and red deer have the craving for maples...
Oaks have also been listed as deer resistant. Yet the local enthusiast group I belong to that plants native Garry oaks for restoration purposes here in a city named after the trees routinely encloses them in deer shelters at planting because otherwise the young small specimens used are likely to be browsed to a significant degree. This is in a location that historically had thousands 0f Garry oaks growing natively (or perhaps as orchards established and maintained by native peoples - either way deer were presumably present during the history of the species here).
Although there are hundreds of mature Garry Oak trees here in an area where literally thousands of acorns germinate every year, you never see young trees unless they are protected from deer. I believe that black-tailed deer were much less numerous at a time when they had only native plants to eat . . . their numbers have grown with the introduction of more succulent plants from elsewhere, especially those that can provide food during the winter.
White-tailed deer never seem to touch red or white oak seedlings in our yard. I have to weed them out every year, by the dozens... So it seems plausible that different species of deer have different taste buds.
I've heard that different deer of the same species but living in different areas often eat different plants. Also, they can acquire a taste for things they formerly avoided - like, rhubarb, sword ferns and even daffodils.
Worst ones for us are Roe deer, though Red are certainly present. They eat young Q. robur, Ash and even birch. They seem to leave the beech alone mostly. AFAIK maples are their favorite food. :(
Here, deer occasionally sleep in my landscape. They have a preference for rose, but also go for cherry and vine maple. However, they just eat the flower buds and leaves, leaving the petioles on the plant, never eating woody parts. They have Orange Dream, shin deshojo, Higasayama, Okushimo and shishigashira available, but don't touch them at all. Once in a great while they nibble a few aka shigatatsu sawa leaves in spring. After reading of y'alls experiences, I thank my lucky stars that my local deer apparently are epicures of considerable discernment.
Just seen all the comments and I would like to add that I have witnessed Roe, Fallow, Red, Muntjac and Sika Deer all munching away at Maples through the hours of darkness in various locations in the UK. Now you might ask how did I see this ?? I cannot divulge, but only to say I had high end night vision scopes etc etc.....
Fallow deer and rose deer have a dry varier menu, they eat 30 to 40 different plants per night. Copper or sulfur (lime sulfur) treatment acts as a repellant.