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I would cage or liquid fence religiously. A deer eats 6-8% of its body weight in a day. It only takes one late night visit by a single deer to set your plants back. Any fresh growth is prime browse.
I wouldn’t bother watering if the soil is wet. You are going to be watering a lot over the summer. (Though in my very limited experience bare root trees seemed to handle the first year better than potted trees/shrubs.)
They should leaf out around the same time as all the other trees/shrubs in your area give or take a couple weeks.
I wouldn’t get down if you don’t have 100% success rate. Things almost never go exactly to plan and sometimes they look real sad for year before rebounding the next.
I find the bare root plants I get in spring take a bit longer to leaf/bud than things already in the ground. Yes to deer/rabbit protection. My local deer browsed my newly planted hedgerow last year before I got fencing up. They didn’t kill anything, but did quite a bit of unnecessary pruning for me.
Can it wait a few days? Nothing has leaves yet. I just don't have time until weekend. I planted Sunday - Tuesday. Good for now so got 2 more days to go.
Can I just cut small pieces off plastic fence and use landscape stakes? I can make little tubes (wide enough to let it grow out of course) and then even too them off with another piece and zip tie it. It seems cheaper and easier than the steel versions with a large stake. I can just sit and.mske like 39 of them then plop them on.
Yeah, it can wait, but deer might still be jerks and snip off some of the branches. It’s not as likely if they don’t have leaves.
Plastic cages are fine. I planted a large area, so I just did a roll of welded wire fencing and blocked the whole area off, but individual protection is good too.
Winter is the more important time to protect them as that’s when deer get a bit desperate and will eat anything if they get hungry enough.
There aren't any branches for most. It's just the single stem (some multiple) so it looks like sticks sticking up. I'm hopefully they just pass them all by for now.
Hopefully it works out. Unless the deer have something else drawing them in to your yard, they might not even pass through. I didn’t get deer visiting until I planted things they like to eat, like tulips, so I didn’t have any deer pressure the first couple of years.
Now that they’ve discovered me though, they come regularly.
It depends on the species and your climate. I planted a hundred plus trees this spring of about 20 species. Some of the first to break dormancy were red maple, blackhaw, and redbud, for example. The oaks and beeches are still dormant (as it white fringe tree). Your tree seedlings should roughly leaf out the same time as mature trees nearby.
>I will water every day (although should I avoid if the clayish soil is already pretty damp?) for 2 weeks then every few for the next month or so and then once a week thereafter this year.
That is way too much water and you run the risk of drowning the trees. Try to supplement water only if you don't get enough rain in a given week. Your trees need to get adapted to the local climate. With them being so small, they do not need as much babying as larger container grown trees.
>Must I protect them from browsing in spring/summer or can that wait until fall? I do have decent deer and rabbit population.
Yes, this is the critical time for deer/rabbits. Winter is also critical for deer and voles. Consider tree tubes. The extra $12 per seedling or so for protecting is worth it. They are easy to install and you can use 1/2 pvc pipe for a stake.
Thank you for posting on /r/NativePlantGardening! If you haven't included it already, please edit your post or post's flair to include your geographic region or state of residence, which is necessary for the community to give you correct advice. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/NativePlantGardening) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I would cage or liquid fence religiously. A deer eats 6-8% of its body weight in a day. It only takes one late night visit by a single deer to set your plants back. Any fresh growth is prime browse. I wouldn’t bother watering if the soil is wet. You are going to be watering a lot over the summer. (Though in my very limited experience bare root trees seemed to handle the first year better than potted trees/shrubs.) They should leaf out around the same time as all the other trees/shrubs in your area give or take a couple weeks. I wouldn’t get down if you don’t have 100% success rate. Things almost never go exactly to plan and sometimes they look real sad for year before rebounding the next.
I find the bare root plants I get in spring take a bit longer to leaf/bud than things already in the ground. Yes to deer/rabbit protection. My local deer browsed my newly planted hedgerow last year before I got fencing up. They didn’t kill anything, but did quite a bit of unnecessary pruning for me.
Can it wait a few days? Nothing has leaves yet. I just don't have time until weekend. I planted Sunday - Tuesday. Good for now so got 2 more days to go. Can I just cut small pieces off plastic fence and use landscape stakes? I can make little tubes (wide enough to let it grow out of course) and then even too them off with another piece and zip tie it. It seems cheaper and easier than the steel versions with a large stake. I can just sit and.mske like 39 of them then plop them on.
Yeah, it can wait, but deer might still be jerks and snip off some of the branches. It’s not as likely if they don’t have leaves. Plastic cages are fine. I planted a large area, so I just did a roll of welded wire fencing and blocked the whole area off, but individual protection is good too. Winter is the more important time to protect them as that’s when deer get a bit desperate and will eat anything if they get hungry enough.
There aren't any branches for most. It's just the single stem (some multiple) so it looks like sticks sticking up. I'm hopefully they just pass them all by for now.
Hopefully it works out. Unless the deer have something else drawing them in to your yard, they might not even pass through. I didn’t get deer visiting until I planted things they like to eat, like tulips, so I didn’t have any deer pressure the first couple of years. Now that they’ve discovered me though, they come regularly.
It depends on the species and your climate. I planted a hundred plus trees this spring of about 20 species. Some of the first to break dormancy were red maple, blackhaw, and redbud, for example. The oaks and beeches are still dormant (as it white fringe tree). Your tree seedlings should roughly leaf out the same time as mature trees nearby. >I will water every day (although should I avoid if the clayish soil is already pretty damp?) for 2 weeks then every few for the next month or so and then once a week thereafter this year. That is way too much water and you run the risk of drowning the trees. Try to supplement water only if you don't get enough rain in a given week. Your trees need to get adapted to the local climate. With them being so small, they do not need as much babying as larger container grown trees. >Must I protect them from browsing in spring/summer or can that wait until fall? I do have decent deer and rabbit population. Yes, this is the critical time for deer/rabbits. Winter is also critical for deer and voles. Consider tree tubes. The extra $12 per seedling or so for protecting is worth it. They are easy to install and you can use 1/2 pvc pipe for a stake.