DuckSouth.com

Thinking about investing in some fruit trees next year to plant for deer. Any of you done this? What did you have best luck with? Where did you buy them?

I got some crabapples, "deer pear," and Chickasaw plums for Nativ Nurseries last year. I didn't have great survival, even with the plums, which was a surprise. Probably my fault. They were all seedlings, so investment was about $4 per tree. Also planted 10 dogwoods at the time. 1 survived til the Fall and has since died.

Yeah I was thinking of investing in some larger trees to get better survival and faster results. Crab apple was definetly on my list. Started doing some research and it's amazing the differences in the times different ones drop fruit. I am wanting something that drops as late as possible or maybe plant a few different to cover more of the season.

The mature ones get expensive. My dad kept saying he was going to get some bigger pear trees but he hasn't yet. Probably a good thing with the droughts we've had.

The Wildlife Group and Bass Pecan are folks I can think of at the moment that sell the larger trees.

I planted a bunch a persimmons a few years back into a big planter and let them go for a couple years before I set them out this spring. Out of about 3 dozen that i transplanted, only about 15 made it into the ground. Part of the reason was i should have set them out last year, but waited too late, and couldn't keep enough water on them last summer. I've got a bunch of those giant acorns that i planted last year that will be next year before if put them in. It takes a little work, but I'm looking forward to get some benefit out of them in the future.

I planted 15 mexican plumbs in february of 2016 as seedlings, the drought got half of them this summer.

I planted 6 crab apples and 6 american plumbs along with 25 saw tooth in march. This time I went all out and bought the tree protectors and even mulched around the tree protector. Maybe its just luck but they are growing wild right now. Eliminating the weed competition and having the tree tube around them it seems makes a little green house. I will not plant another tree with out them. I ordered my tree tubes from a tree company online for under $2.00 a piece. I made my own stakes out of anything I could find. I also prepped my holes with peet moss.

treeprotectionssupply.com

Thanks.

I planted 40 deer pear and crabapple from Nativ nurseries last year as seedlings and I might have lost 2 or 3, but overall they are doing great. I tubed them all with tubes from Nativ as well.

You can also get all of the tree tubes locally at Forestry Suppliers.

What I have used in the past was a split water-hose for the small plants and vines and flex pipe for larger trees split so there is some give in it.