I promise you it's not the poor box turtle. The 3' off the ground clean cuts look like a deer had some dinner.

I've had similar damage recently on field-planted maples, similarly sized to yours. They looked great after the crew planted them but a week or two later, I noticed all of the branches of the crowns nipped off clean like that. This type of damage would be something I'd normally assign to rabbits, but there's no way the bunnies got so high up. These are small trees but nevertheless, the crowns are up five or so feet off the ground.

Bottom line.............I'm thinking deer. I just don't see where it could have been anything else.

+oM

We do have deer in the area. I have not seen them in over a year but have seen their "sign" fairly often and of course have buck rub damage every fall. The few times I have seen deer, they didn't get anywhere near the house. I know they are pretty fearless at night, though. Weird how nothing actually planted has been damaged, yet. Only up at the house. Damn deer, they don't even know what they are going to do next...

There is no way I can get vengeance on the foul beast that did the damage if it is deer, either. Which pisses me off even more. I suppose a nursery renovation in the off season is in order...

It would be a little tricky to get back to the maple and not knock pots over or leave any deer tracks. I watered yesterday and the soil was/is very soft. I didn't see any critter tracks down that center aisle. The maple so heavily damaged is behind the magnolia and pawpaw on the left.

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Tom, sorry to hear about your troubles with your maples. Did your larch/spruce project ever get planted?

jfacendola, we have box turtles in record numbers at our house this year. I picked one up the other day to show to my kids and it never retreated inside it shell. Just hung out and said hello. Its expression reminded me of a perturbed cat being held that really wants down.

This post was edited by j0nd03 on Wed, Jul 3, 13 at 11:21

Clean cut like that - not deer. They chew &/or tear stuff off, leaving ragged ends.
It's a rodent or lagomorph of some sort - or a combination of different ones. Rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, voles must be considered.

Have seen squirrels destroy a bunch of Japanese maples in my BIL's greenhouse - similar to what you've shown.

Maybe it is a Bigfoot that did that. Supposedly very smart creature... ;-)

Yea, deer don't seem to cut like that -- tho they might. Like lucky_p, I definitely have seen squirrels do this, tho.

You can make a chicken wire cage to put around each tree to keep out all those critters. We cut a square piece to put over the top to keep deer from reaching down in.

Also wondering what you guys would suggest as far as that acer skutchii with the severe bark damage. I really want it to start adding caliper to start closing the wound. I know it needs sun for maximum growth but it is already so darn stressed from having 80% of its canopy reduced. I would like to go ahead and acclimate it to sun over a week or two and then plant it with hardware cloth all around it. What do you tree whisperers think?

Regardless of what critter, would spraying with something like Liquid Fence make the plants unpalatable to all concerned?

Haha, Lou. I did take some of his beef jerky the other day...

Tox, I have been thinking about the chicken wire. Even if I surround the whole tent, if I leave say 1-2' opening up high, can the squirrels just climb up the fence and go over the top? I would need to completely surround this thing. Which is possible. I may have to make this a July the 4th holiday weekend project and not wait until the offseason.

To think last year, not a single nibble on any plant and now this. Just pisses the blank off@!

Esh, that is a great idea. My only concern with that, and it may be way off base, is my kids play around that area and help me water - every time I water. As long as it is safe around people, I'm game. It would be most helpful if it didn't wash off easily, too

I was at my PIL's house the other day and saw that their Acer skutchii's branches that aren't protected by chicken wire got chewed by the deer. Yours got a clean cut so it had to be something else. I've seen a rabbit do that to my little shantung maple last year. Do what my dad did... set up a trap...

Frankly, I am shocked that none of my trees are even damaged despite living in the middle of nowhere by Nature Preserves full of deer, rabbits, etc. I saw a big jack rabbit this morning when I went out for a walk with my dog.

Yes, Lou, NONE of my planted shrubs/trees (many the same or similar species to the ones attacked) have been bothered in the least in the yard other than a couple tupelo branches (which are a local deer delicacy). Just the babies in the nursery.

This post was edited by j0nd03 on Wed, Jul 3, 13 at 14:17

Crap, I thought the poor deer I send the dogs chasing after in the back yard was responsible for the nice clean cut branch tips on a few of my smaller trees. Turns out it is probably the tree rats! One more strike against the squirrels....

That sucks really. I have caught deer doing damage within feet of my house. But that does seem a bit surgical.

One got caught in this obsolete rabbit fence I had around my Ogon. Pulled it up and over the six foot tall tree.

Time to go sit in the yard overnight with an appropriate firearm and deal with the vermin? (don't shoot a shotgun towards the house!)

Interesting. I did wonder about the extremely clean-cut appearance. I too did not think deer do that, but I couldn't And still pretty much can't) think of anything else that could reach where the trees I spoke of were munched.

j0, thanks for asking....we did indeed plant 6000 seedlings this spring. Success rate so far appears excellent, what with the mostly cool, wet growing season we've been experiencing.

The maples were at a work project. Still p*sses me off though!

+oM

Trail camera with night vision. Borrow one if you must. I have had some trees browsed down so many times they are bonsai. LOL A whole gamut of critters from mice to deer to cat scratch damage. The last one is the funniest. Had a guy in to turn over some ground. He takes one look at some of my orchard trees and asks about our cat. I am defending my sweet little snowflake who walks up as I AM TALKING, flips his Edward Scissorhands talons out and procedes to turning bark into confetti.

As far as I know Liquid Fence is safe around people. I spray it in the evening (that would be post-kiddie bedtime or at least time for them to be inside) so that the smell has mostly worn off by morning (from a human perspective).

It lasts for several weeks, depending on how much rain you get. Supposedly if you are regular enough they "learn" to look elsewhere after a while.

Nice magnolia you have back there! I was livid when I had tons of damage in fall. Some of which where some large, pricey Pinus cembra. Damn things ate all the buds off....which means plant is done.

The chewing of the bark makes it clear that its a rabbit. Some of the big boys can stand up pretty tall on their hind legs to make you think it might be deer. Rabbits always have a clean cut usually at a 45 degree angle

The only damage I've had this spring is rosy glow barberry of all plants. They really like the new pink growth. They did the same thing at my last house. How strange is that?

Some of your plants may back bud, especially the maples.

Here is an American Smoketree that I cut from 5' to 12" to encourage back budding for a more desirable full shape. Its possibly Grace...duped yet again by mail order

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Calliope, that is a great story and good reminder why I don't have any cats anymore =D

Whaas, the biggest shock to me is how the tiny seedling tupelo and sugar maples did in fact back bud as you call it. It took a few weeks but now nearly all of them have new leaves emerging. I made sure to keep the sticks well watered and they have sure held up their end by sprouting new growth. I thought first year seedlings would be headed to the compost pile after suffering such damage so early in their lives.

The purple Japanese maples seedlings were actually the quickest to back bud but the rabbit got them before the leaves could do much.

The evil fiend struck again last night. Now that pawpaw in the last picture I posted has no remaining leaves...

And that sure does not look like a species smoketree. Is that the one you got from FF?

Esh, I am going to hardware store tomorrow to get some of that stuff and spray it everywhere!

The only American-style purple smoke tree I am aware of is 'Grace', which hybrid American smoke tree might be a good common name for.

My FF specimen was damaged during a tree stump grinding. I should have made them replace it but it just wasn't worth my time.

For my new one, I already told the vendor that they are sending out Grace. They agreed but said that they were seedlings so the color could be variable.

Perhaps third time is a charm? I wish Broken Arrow would get more of Tulsa.

I'd get some liquid fence and just spray in the area. It will stink nasty style for a day or so. Surprised they keep coming back this time of year. Usually they do that in winter...they just don't let up once they know its there.

Apparently a case of the midnight munchies. Rat poison it is.

I bet he is nesting under the shed that shades the nursery in the AM. He has struck several times since my last reply. Going to move a few non replaceable things tonight until he is dead. He has now rebrowsed trees that releafed from his initial onslaught.

Although pics of him climbing the large maple and cutting it into pieces would have been cool to see, he is going to die (soon).

Forgot to add I did spray some spicy pepper concoction on my plants the same day I made this topic. He proceeded to eat chow down on several plants that night and then returned two nights in a row.

The remaining leaves on my plants do not seem to have cared too much for the spray and are wilting a little even though the rootballs are plenty moist...

One of those monster mouse traps with some tasty peanut butter will get him. He wont stop untill his lights are out!
Al

That's the plan Al!

I changed my mind this morning about the poison. My daughter can not be trusted around that stuff. She is always putting things in her mouth/licking stuff and she often plays near my nursery (and has misplaced quite a few of my acorns!!).

How about glue trap?

GV, that sounds like an idea! He certainly did not like the peanut butter I set out for him last night. I have camera pics of him all around it but he never tried it... Any suggestions for a different rat delicacy before I invest in some glue traps?

Dried fruit, bird seed, peanuts, bread. Heck, make him a PBJ. Seriously dry corn still on the cob like they sell for birds and squirrels will do the trick. Do they even make glue traps large enough for a rat? I hate glue traps for anything because they're so inhumane. Speaking of going too far in the opposite direction, there are even Havahart live traps for rats. Why, what on earth would you do with a captured live rat other than dispatch it?

Well, he ate all the peanut butter last night and didn't trip the trap. He also destroyed a few 2nd year q. alba's.

Re-bait the trap and surround it with glue traps for tonight. I haven't looked at the pictures yet, but there should be a few good ones of him with his head inside the trap...

Sneaky little thing, huh? I haven't had to trap one of those but did have to use glue traps for field mice some years ago, had to because we had small children and anything else was dangerous for them.

Our squirrels won't go after peanuts or pb but bird seeds (black sunflower currently) will lure them into the havaheart trap (we release them into the big park a couple miles away).

Good luck getting that thing John, he's eating you out of flora and fauna! ;)

Thanks for the encouragement, GV!

Here is a cool sequence from last night. I do not know the final result but it doesn't look good (for me)

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Id get the old fashion wooden trap....and if your careful you can set it a little on the 'sensitive side'. Its not funny when he's chewing up your stash of nice trees and plants. Id give him his last 'hair triggered' skippy dinner!

Al

He gone.

I tore a slice of cheese into small pieces so he would really have to lean in the trap and step on the trigger to retrieve them. Success!

I'll leave the camera up for a little while to make sure nothing else is disturbing the peace.

Been following the thread awaiting word of success. Congrats. Trail cameras can come in handy and why I suggested it, even if you aren't a deer hunter. Bet they'd come in handy to people who have 'people' issues too like window peepers and kid damage to landscaping when folks are at work or animals in the city running loose. It's really hard to deny photographic evidence.

Good deal, glad you got that tree eater John, I hope it was the only one and your lovely 'nursery kids' all recover well.

I thought the cat got the rat!