I'm tired of winter! Enough already!

[ckvchestnut]

It's been so cold here this winter and we've just discovered that the mice have stripped the bark off and chewed the trunks of my young trees! They destroyed a few and completely stripped the bark off of some my apple trees that I have been painstakingly growing. Grrrrrr! This is war! There is going to be a lot of carnage around here!

We wrapped the trunks with duct tape but not sure if they will survive. The snow was so deep that the mice were able to chew up to high levels by tunneling through the snow.


Carolyn

 

[grapeman]

If the bark has been chewed all around, they will not live for a year before dying. If there is a strip of bark left, there is a chance they will live. Replacement is the best choice. Next time, put trunk protectors on them which wraps around yet will expand as the tree grows. I feel your pain. I had a nursery of 500 custom grafted apple trees growing almost 20 years ago. We had an ice storm of historic proportions and it led to the mice and squirrels looking for food. The ice layer made a nice road for those rodents and they girdled virtually every tree I had growing. The problem was that the layer of ice was below the graft union, so even though a few of them grew, they all were the rootstock.

 

[ckvchestnut]

Thanks the response Grapeman... I am devastated! I've been growing these trees for 8 years now! I never had 1 problem until this year but as your story also proves, never take a chance on not using trunk protectors. I think they stripped a total of 18" of bark off the apple trees! I'm heartbroken. Kicking myself now.


Carolyn

 

[jamesngalveston]

i feel for you, your trees, and you have to strip naked, wear a funny hat, dance in the moonlight...then winter will leave...

 

[ckvchestnut]

Thanks James I better break out the DB then lol


Carolyn

 

[grapeman]

James do you know this from experience?????? LOL I don't think I will try to imagine that! (Of you that is, Carolyn might be another matter altogethter)

 

[ckvchestnut]

Well you think it's bad advice? Maybe I shouldn't trust James? If there is a rain dance why can't there be a spring dance? Lol


Carolyn

 

[grapeman]

Oh no, I think it is probably true. When you perform that dance make a phone video of it and play it here as proof to see it works!

 

[ckvchestnut]

Honestly! If really did work I would probably do it! But it's dang cold out there again! Could I at least keep my boots on?? Lol


Carolyn

 

[grapeman]

I think it's like water witching - the better the direct foot contact the stronger the pull on the witching stick.

 

[ckvchestnut]

Ya right bare feet on glare ice! That's like fire walking! I'm not into that sh*t!


Carolyn

 

[jamesngalveston]

lol, ahhh come on,,,you getting cabin fever with all that cold...you got to do something.....

 

[cintipam]

I have not tried this but the best grafting books I have talk about bridging grafts. Basically grafting a strip of bark that meets both the top bark zone and the bottom bark zone. Usually several are done around the circumference of the tree. Duct tape won't help at all, in fact you'd have to remove it rather carefully in order to do the bridge graft. Like I said, never tried this, but it seems to be standard practice in orchards.

HTH

Pam in cinti

 

[grapeman]

I almost posted about the bridging graft, but didn't because I have found in experience it leads to a very weak tree, especially on a young one. It does work and I have done it a few times, but the trees end up rotting off and breaking. Maybe several around it would be enough to provide a more stable union. I agree, duct tape is a very poor choice. You have lost the cambium of the tree which forms the xylem and phloem which transports water and nutrients- it won't simply dry out because the "skin" is gone.

Why don't you get us a picture so we can jusge the damage and size of the trees.

For a better explanation see the link: http://www.appleman.ca/korchard/grfting3.htm

 

[ckvchestnut]

Yes I understand how the tree works... I'll get a photo of one of them later today and post it. I used the duct tape to protect it from the freezing drying winds here. Was planning to take it off as soon as the weather warms up? I'll have to do more reading on the bridge grafting. It's too cold to do it right now though.


Carolyn

 

[ckvchestnut]

Thanks for the link! I see it has sections on grafting... Not sure this is going to work out because it's freaking cold out there and I won't be able to graft it right away.


Carolyn

 

[jamesngalveston]

seriously, are you telling me that the mice and rats will eat tree bark if they cant find food in the snow and ice....
that is just crazy to me.

 

[ckvchestnut]

Well they chewed on the WRONG trees - I'm telling you! Don't mess with the Zohan!! Lol there will be hell to pay! I recently discovered that a weasel moved in... Originally I was going to have him humanely removed, but he's got a second chance, apparently they are voracious rodent predators. He can stay the summer if he helps me out at all!




Carolyn

 

[ckvchestnut]

Maybe that's why he moved in, in the first place! I'm thinking I'm overrun with these nasty rodents!! It's a never ending battle - they're like cockroaches!


Carolyn

 

[ckvchestnut]

We put Saran Wrap around the trunks first and then the duct tape... If have to take this off to show the damage!


Carolyn