This linden tree is growing back after the top was eaten-off by the beasts. Unlike an aspen, it is only growing through suckers from the bottom. Very often aspen will grow back much higher up, if they are protected. Below is a three-stem clump that is growing back with the aid of a Tree Cage.
The closest I have ever come to being attacked. I grabbed a wooden crate and held it up to get into my house. She walked toward me and lurched strongly, several times. The day before I saw her twice (she came back) in a neighbor’s yard.
A pregnant beast.
Have you ever wondered why you don’t see the large Tree Protectors on eBay anymore?
This may be a better solution: 2” chicken wire. So far it has been 100% effective. Remember, deer and elk see more in terms of ultraviolet images… They can see and feel it.
Two-inch poultry netting is very inexpensive. It is more like fabric than metal, so the process of installation is a little like sewing. But it is not sharp and it will never harm the tree.
On the left is an aspen tree protected by a Tree Cage. On the right is an aspen tree with lower branches removed, and with a custom, smaller-circumference protective cylinder. The “elk line”—the height to which the trees are protected—is approximately 8 feet. While both trees are healthy and growing, the tree on the left is growing faster and it is closer to its natural shape.
These are regenerating aspen. The tree on the right is more established, with a “leader” (main tree stem) of (only) 1 - 1 1/2 inches diameter. It has been nursed along in a heavy deer and elk environment for, a rough guess is, seven years (this is from when an effort was first made to save it; “naturally” it would be eaten to the ground every year). It had been heavily pruned to grow up. Little effort was made to retain branches below the elk line.
A standard 52” circumference Tree Cage was installed on the tree on the left a year ago. For this tree, as many lower branches as possible have been retained. It was recently pruned, but only because it looks as though it can take it. This shape (the split stem or leader), for an aspen tree of this size, is definitely not a problem. I believe it is a
Here are some healthy aspen trees. See how the branches grow up?
Tree Protectors alone cannot protect trees that are not established and out of reach to deer and elk. They are great, once the tree is established. Until then, the Tree Cage is the answer.
