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It is necessary to protect apple trees in winter not only from frost, but also from rodents. The bark of apple and pear trees is to the taste not only of common voles, but also of forest mice and hares. There are especially many mice in warm years. In order to protect your garden from pests, you need to know how to protect apple trees from mice in winter.
Mice begin to raid gardens after the onset of cold weather, when it becomes increasingly difficult to find food in the surrounding fields.
Damage from rodents
Rodents, despite their size, can cause enormous damage to trees. Most of all they prefer the bark of apple or pear trees, but if they cannot get close to them, they choose cherries or plums. Due to the presence of a slight bitterness, rodents do not like the taste of stone fruit bark. The invasion of mice and hares is especially dangerous for young apple trees and seedlings. By feeding on bark and buds, they expose the trunk and disrupt the natural growth processes of the tree. After all, the bark performs the most important functions:
- it protects the apple tree from various diseases and numerous pests;
- the bark helps ensure the continuous movement of nutrients and water.
Most often, mice gnaw the bark in a vertical stripe on one side of the tree trunk. But it happens that they gnaw out the bark of a seedling from all sides, which is fraught with its death - the connection between the root system and the crown of the tree is terminated.
Bridge grafting
This type of grafting is used when the tree has received too much damage. It often happens that in cold winters mice gnaw the bark on apple trees from all sides. As a result, the movement of nutrients is disrupted and the tree may die. Bridge grafting helps save such trees. If the trunk is only partially exposed, you can simply treat this area with Bordeaux mixture and lubricate it with garden varnish.
Any trees can be grafted with a bridge if their trunk diameter reaches 3 cm.
Preparation of cuttings
- They can be prepared in late autumn after pruning trees or in early spring. But you cannot immediately graft a cut cutting into a tree - it simply will not take root. The material for grafting is stored in a dark room, sections of cuttings are immersed in damp sand or sawdust. You can store cuttings in the basement. If there is no basement, you need to wrap them in a damp cloth and put them in the refrigerator. During storage, care must be taken to ensure that the fabric does not dry out and that the cuttings do not germinate.
- The thickness of the scion depends on the area of damage. If the height of the damaged area is no more than 5 cm, twigs up to 4 mm in diameter are taken. If you have to take cuttings of a larger diameter, you need to make sure that they are flexible and bend easily.
- The number of scions depends on the diameter of the trunk.For seedlings with a diameter of 3 cm, two scions are sufficient, but an adult tree will need at least 8. The number of buds on the cuttings does not matter, since they are removed before the procedure. If you leave the buds on the scion, they will begin to grow and disrupt the conductive ability of the scion.
- The varieties of apple trees from which scions are taken can be completely different. You can even take cuttings from wild plants.
- When calculating the length of the cutting, you need to take into account the width of the damaged area, the length of the cuts at the ends of the cutting and a tolerance of approximately 10 cm.
- The number of scions intended for one tree must be even. The distance between them should not exceed one or at least two cutting diameters.
Vaccination procedure
Grafting with a bridge is carried out during the period when sap flows and the bark lags behind the trunk more easily - in mid-latitudes this time usually occurs in May. Areas of trunks with ring damage must be protected from drying out until this moment, for which it is enough to cover them with natural drying oil or garden putty.
Particular attention should be paid to the processing of scions. Tools must be well sharpened and disinfected. At the ends of the cuttings you need to make cuts with a very sharp angle. The cut should be smooth, without roughness. Its length should be 4-5 times the diameter of the scion.
Performing the procedure requires accuracy and precision:
- the bare part of the trunk is cleaned to a shine with a sharp garden knife;
- part of the bark is removed above and below the site of damage - to a healthy area;
- stepping back 1-2 cm from the edge of the bark, you need to make a cut in the shape of the letter T - it should be symmetrical, top and bottom, and shallow;
- A cut of the prepared cutting is placed under the edges carefully bent with a knife, the edges of the bark are closed, covered with garden varnish and secured with a plaster - the cut should fit tightly to the trunk;
- the cut of the second end of the scion is installed and secured in the same way - the cutting should bend in a small arc.
After all the cuttings have been grafted around the circumference of the trunk, it is recommended to tie the grafting with washcloth, then wrap it in roofing felt and sprinkle it with sawdust. The bast will gradually rot, so you don’t have to remove the bandage. Do not apply a bandage that is too tight - it will interfere with the growth of the tree. Some gardeners tie it with plastic tape - then around mid-summer the bandage should be removed and the apple tree should be given the opportunity to harden for winter.
If shoots grow from the buds on the cuttings, they need to be cut off. All flowers are also removed from the apple tree to reduce the load. If the wounds are inflicted in the lower part of the trunk, bridges must be placed from the root system to the trunk.
Preventive actions
Before taking measures to protect apple trees from rodents in winter, you must first take several preventive measures.
Before the onset of cold weather, you should clear the garden of fallen leaves, small twigs, and tree trimmings, since it is under these that mice hide.
While the soil is not yet frozen, you need to dig trunk circles around the trees. But don’t dig too deep to avoid damaging their root system.
After digging, you can immediately wrap the tree trunks with burlap or other covering material.
Requirements for covering material
Covering apple tree trunks in winter should provide not only protection from frost, but also from rodents, therefore the covering material must meet the following characteristics:
- it must have sufficient density;
- It is recommended to select light-colored fiber so that it reflects direct sunlight and protects the tree trunk from burns.
Dark-colored fiber should not be used as a covering material - it can cause overheating and damage to the wood. You cannot insulate the trunk with organic material, for example, straw - on the contrary, it will attract mice.
In recent years, agrofibre has become widespread as a covering material. Old materials at hand, such as nylon stockings and tights, have not lost their relevance.
You need to wrap the trunk of the apple tree to keep mice out carefully and thoroughly, making sure that there are no gaps left. The entire trunk is covered, starting from the very roots to the first skeletal branch. You first need to rake away the soil from the base of the apple tree to deepen the covering material, and then add soil.
Ways to protect apple trees from mice
Gardeners have many ways to protect apple trees from mice.
Protection with fragrances
Before sheltering apple trees from mice, you can coat their trunk with lime mortar with the addition of cryolin or tar - substances that have a sharp, characteristic odor. But as spring approaches, the smell disappears. Placing sawdust impregnated with odorous substances around its base will help protect apple trees from mice. Today, the chemical industry can offer more odorous compounds with a persistent odor. You should not use oils, kerosene or grease - they can leave burns on the trunk of the apple tree.
Mice also cannot tolerate the smell of burning wool. During the winter, you can periodically hang pieces of singed wool on the branches of seedlings.
Bunches of coriander placed under the seedlings effectively protect apple trees from mice. You can simply plant this fragrant seasoning under the trees in the spring.
Wrapping trunks
A cheap method widely used by gardeners is tying the apple tree against rodents using spruce branches. Spruce or juniper branches should be tied to the trunk with the needles down. On top of the spruce branches you can cover the apple tree from mice with film or mesh. The tree will be provided with breathing, and access to rodents will be blocked.
Many gardeners advise wrapping the trunk of an apple tree to keep mice out with an iron mesh. The covering procedure should be carried out carefully so as not to injure the tree bark.
By wrapping the mouse-proof apple tree trunk with nylon tights, you can moisten them with a strong-smelling substance. Rodents cannot cope with such protection.
Using roofing felt
Sometimes, in order to protect the apple tree trunk from mice, it is tied with roofing felt. However, we should not forget that:
- the dark color of the roofing material will lead to overheating and burns on the tree bark;
- It is necessary to prevent the roofing material from coming into contact with the surface of the tree due to its impregnation with resin.
If you had to use roofing material as a covering material, you need to take precautions - first wrap the standard with paper or burlap. The gap formed between them must be closed so that water does not flow there. Otherwise, when frozen, it will compress the tree. In the spring, as soon as the frosts go away, you need to quickly remove the roofing felt, as it does not allow air to pass through.
other methods
Mice usually hide in the tree trunk circle. After the snow falls, you need to compact it well to a diameter of 2 meters around the apple tree. It will be more difficult for mice to get through a dense layer of snow.
Spraying trees with a solution of copper sulfate or Bordeaux mixture will repel mice. For processing, you need to choose dry and sunny weather.
All rodents are shy and afraid of loud noises. Empty plastic bottles are hung on the branches of apple trees to deter mice, creating a background noise even with slight air movement. You can also cut the bottles into strips and hang them as ribbons. However, at the end of winter, when food is especially difficult, the rattle of plastic bottles may not stop the rodents.
There are also anti-mouse electronic devices, the effectiveness of which depends on the area of the site.
An interesting method is also proposed, such as storing foliage, trimmed twigs, and other plant debris in a certain place. A pit of food waste will distract mice from the trees.
The video shows different ways to protect your garden:
Protecting apple trees from hares
Those who like to eat apple tree bark also include larger rodents - hares. They often eat bark down to their height. But there are effective ways to protect an apple tree from hares in winter.
A fence made of metal mesh is built around the apple tree to keep rodents out. It needs to be pushed a little deeper into the ground. Hares will not be able to chew through such a fence. At the same time, the mesh will not restrict the access of light and air, which will protect the apple tree from fungal diseases.
To save apple trees from rodents, some garden owners resort to various tricks - tying spruce branches around the trunk, and tying dog hair to coniferous branches.Hares do not even come close to such trees.
You can cover the lower part of the apple tree from mice, and tie ribbons greased with tar to the upper branches. Its pungent smell will repel rodents.
Young seedlings can be protected from rodents using plastic bottles. Having cut off their ends, you need to put them on the trunk and branches, sprinkle them with snow from below so that mice cannot get through.
A high and strong fence without gaps and tightly adjacent to the surface of the ground will prevent hares from getting into the area.
Pets - cats and dogs - will be excellent guards for the garden. The cat's smell will scare away mice, and hares will not dare to approach the house where the dogs live.
Many people, instead of iron mesh, use artificial, fine-mesh ones in which vegetables are stored. The trunk is wrapped with mesh, and on top of it is wrapped with insulating material.
If there is a pond near the apple trees, water rats may come from there.
To rid the garden of this danger, you need to dig ditches around the trees with a depth of a spade bayonet video:
To protect apple trees from rodents in winter, it is best to use several methods simultaneously. Then the protection will be more effective, and the apple trees will overwinter safe and sound.
