Protecting Your Plants from Wildlife

Whaleback Nursery is home to a variety of creatures and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Chipmunks burrow among the rock piles, crows and finches alight on branches, and every morning we find deer tracks in the fields. Every gardener has stories of their prized vegetables or trees being damaged by animals, and we are no different. While we want to share the fruit and flowers with all our neighbors, we do take some measures to ensure the health of our plants as well as saving food and seeds for ourselves.

Snapped twigs are a telltale sign of Deer browsing

The biggest threat to nursery trees is deer browsing. In the winter when most food sources are gone, Deer enjoy browsing young tree bark to get at the cambium layer where sugars are transported. Even small amounts of damage to a sapling’s bark may be too much for a young tree. Deer will jump over a six foot tall fence, so keeping them out of an area is very difficult. At the nursery we use second hand wire fencing to create a cage around our larger beds. For individual trees, wrapping a tight cylinder of material around the trunk works well. We use fencing, hardware cloth, old window screens, and sometimes plastic pipe to protect our trees. We also plant some trees and shrubs that are specifically designed to attract and feed deer. These include the fast growing Red Osier Dogwood, a native species with vibrant purple bark, and Beech trees. Keeping trees and shrubs like this on the outskirts of your more valuable plants will do a good job at deterring any curious nibbles.

If you don't have any extra wire laying around, or don't want to buy new materials (we don't blame you) a free, zero-waste alternative is to use invasive rose and barberry. These thorny invasives, which you can learn about here, grow quickly and abundantly. To use these, cut two or three large branches and gently lay them around your tree of interest making sure to cover the entire height of your sapling. We've found this to be an extremely effective deterrent, and once winter is over you can burn the branches for biochar, or simply chop it up and leave it as mulch around your tree. 

Japanese Barberry thorns will deter even the hungriest deer

A cage around nursery beds is great for deer, but will not stop any small burrowing mammals from eating roots, seeds, and tubers. Our vegetable garden sees near lots of pressure from voles and chipmunks. We get some protection from our dog, Dewey, but the best way to prevent animals from eating your vegetables is planting plenty of native wildflowers, shrubs, and trees for smaller animals to eat. Rodents and other mammals love to eat wild seeds and berries and play a large part in seed dispersion.

Keeping birds from eating your berries and seeds is not worth the effort. Once again the best strategy is to plant an abundance so there’s always enough to share. Diverse plants, insects, and mammals creates lots of food and environmental niches and helps nature keep itself in check.