Cleave of Destruction

11 years ago

cleave [kleev] verb

4. To cut off; sever; as in to cleave a branch from a tree

"I know you understand what i'm tryin' to say,
I know you've felt the angst I'm feelin' today.
Now my button is pushed, there'll be no running away.
There'll be no rats to save when they're all in a grave.
Take a look around you boy, its bound to irk you boy,
And they taunt me over and over and over again,
Is there no reprieve, for the cleave of destruction?"

Tree rats and fur rats never cease to amaze me with what they will find tasty each year.

Some cases in point...

A Thuja occidentalis of one sort or another has been in my yard for 20 years and never touched...ere now.

Here's a 'DeGroot's Spire' they decided to prune. Mind you, there is another 8 feet away untouched.

This 'Malonyana Aurea' was in a secluded part of the yard and brought closer to the house for more sun. There was more people traffic, more dog traffic and evidently more rabbit traffic.
Two others in more secluded spots were untouched.

This Pinus Sylvestris 'Beuvronensis' has been around for 12 years and ignored til now.

Tsuga canadensis has been nibbled on here and there but nothing ever major but this year they may have been tastier.

Tsuga can 'Geneva'

This used to be a Tsuga can 'Frosty' that was a nice 12-14 inch mound. Yes, just that stub in the middle is all that remains.

Picea abies cultivars are all over the yard. Even nice tender 1 foot tall seedlings that volunteered, but those were ignored. Picea abies 'Aarburg' however was not ignored.

Last fall it looked like this...

Now, it looks like this...

Now its AAAAAArrrrrrgghhh-burg.

Yosemite Sam said it best...I hates rabbits.

Feel free to post your tales of woe here.

P.S. Great, now on top of that GW isn't posting some of my pix upright.

This post was edited by tsugajunkie on Mon, Apr 1, 13 at 2:52

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Comments (14)

Cher
11 years ago
What a mess they made. Hard to believe that rabbits can cause that kind of damage. All the photos appear upright now.
Cher
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
11 years ago
i fell your pain ...

thx for the pix and the poetry ..

ken

ps: i hear they taste just like chicken ....
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zsolti_hungary
11 years ago
I feel your anger, too. There are rabbits in my garden and do the same kind of things... The funny thing is my neigbours are hunters and I asked them to shoot the busters but they are watching how they are running and playing on the field. ...
outback63 Dennison
11 years ago
tj.

I can relate to the frustration you are dealing with.

When the snow is deep and they can't find anything to eat they come running.

Three years ago when there were unusually heavy snows those critters destroyed or limbed up many of my conifers and dwarf Acer palms.

My whole back yard is fenced but compromised to the extent they were finding a way in. I went to work and attached a 30 " wide fine wire mash to the existing chain link. It took about a week kneeling in deep snow and freezing temps to accomplish this. I had no choice as these critters had discovered a gold mine and were destroying years of work.

Now I always take a jaunt through my garden when we have a snow. I always see their tracks on the other side of my fence line looking for a way in. Now there is no way.

I still have to deal with my front yard as there is no fence. They destroyed a Ginkgo 'W.B'. this winter. When I do see them I always feed them a 177 cal. from my pellet gun. I then recycle them over my back fence line to the other wild life. They are never there the next morning so they have some value. Next time I see a pair of red foxes that are occasionally in our neighborhood I will ask them if they taste like chicken.

Dave
maple_grove_gw
11 years ago
Wow, that's rough. I can't believe the critters ate your whole Tsuga down to the base of the stem. Talk about getting your fiber.

As for me, I had a row of three P. parviflora 'Gimborn's Ideal'. Two were turned into deer salad over the winter. The other was untouched. They also ate a newly planted (and small) P. strobus 'Mini Twists' :o(

A recent article in "Conifer Quarterly" discussed Plantskydd (sp?) as an effective and long-lasting deterrent for deer rabits and other such varmints. Does anyone have any experience with this product that they can share? After reading the article, I was thinking about giving it a try next fall.

Alex
gardener365
11 years ago
You too cool Dave. That is a great post!

Dax
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
11 years ago
daves hardware cloth is the only solution..

i once saw a full grown rabbit.. go thru standard chain link.. at speed ... when being chased by a tag team of a dog and cat ... it left some fur.. but i was amazed it made it thru ...

how about becoming your inner mountain man.. and learning how to snare them ...

or your inner elmer fudd.. and twap them ... lettuce and apple i think attracts them ... i doubt it conifer will in spring will ... one would suspect.. that anything would be better than conifer.. but who knows .. i am not a wabbit .... i have had a lot of luck with cantaloupe rind.. and always figures to was the intense fragrance that wafted all over the yard.....

i too use the bb gun from the front porch.. and you have seen my yard.. i cant hit them at that distance.. and if i did it wouldnt do much.. but apparently they dont like things whizzing by them.. lol ... so they keep getting further.. and further away .. lol ...

ken
cryptomeria
11 years ago
I have the same problems here with rabbits,hase, deer.I can only say, please take a better fence round.
I read also in the last C. Quaterly from this Plantskydd and maybe want to try it, but I have no experience till today.

Wolfgang
treeguy_ny USDA z6a WNY
11 years ago
I have the same problems with deer and rabbits. The deer knocked down a 5 foot galvanized fence to get to my pacific/western yew tree and 'moonglow' sweetbay magnolia. Both have been completely defoliated and eaten back to 1/4 to 1/2" diameter branches. Smoke started coming out of my ears when I found the damage. The yew was just finally starting to put out some good growth and looking good.

I used granular plantskydd this winter in my fenced in "tree nursery" where I store all my potted stock before planting it out on the property. In winters past, I have had a high mortality due to mice/voles getting in and eating small seedlings to the ground and girdling larger trees. This winter, with plantskydd applied, I had very minimal damage (not zero damage, but very minimal). I will definitely use it again next year. My in-laws use the liquid form to deter rabbits and deer from browsing their garden plants. They spray their plants once in spring/early summer and then place a pill vial tied to a short stake every 10 linear feet in their garden beds. As the liquid in the pill vials evaporates, the scent diminishes. However, when it rains or they water, the pill vials get refilled and the scent returns full force. They have little to no browse damage on unfenced plants with this combo spray/pill vial technique. They have quite the deer population in their area as well. To keep the herd from defoliating the entire neighborhood, they do a bait and shoot once a year. FYI for anyone who thinks bait and shoot is terrible, all the meat is used in soup kitchens with nothing going to waste - their deaths go on to benefit others in need.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
11 years ago
i dont understand what a pill vial is.. any chance at a picture???

i realize its probably stupid simple.. but apparently this morning i am favoring the former.. rather than the latter.. lol

ken
whaas_5a
11 years ago
Same story here. I couldn't bare taking pics to remind myself as to how much I hate rabbits.

Hopefully they didn't take any of your prized conifers. They hit me pretty good. The rest I just take as an oppurtunity to put something new in.

One area that was fenced in had folded over due to a snow drift so the rabittis took advantage and demolished my 5 year old Picea glauca Dent and Mac's Gold. Add insult to injury and they demolished three 6 year old cembras. Worse off with the deep snow as it allowed them to work their way up the canopy over the winter.
tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for the sympathy and sharing of (cotton) tales of woe. I use the pellet gun from time to time as well, but the last time I used it three of my city's finest showed up with guns drawn.
Evidently my pellet gun resembles an assault rifle.
They left smiling after my explanation (and giving me a token admonishment).
I keep hearing good things about Plantskydd and it may be my next attempt at deterring them.

tj
scotjute Z8
11 years ago
Had something similar happen last winter when we got snow one time and it lasted til the 2nd day. Rabbits came and devoured down to ground 19 one yo Bald Cypress I had in pots. I moved them into a fenced in area now during winter.
Windhaven
11 years ago
Three winters ago when surveying my trees and plantings at the start of springtime, I found out that those "dastardly" rabbits had eaten my prized but small purple beech tree down to a 14" stick. Not one branch left, just a single stick.
I refused to dig it up and would often kneel down and peer at my stick, hoping for a sign of life. My husband would tease me and say I was praying to the tree gods. Well, it paid off because I finally saw a little sign of life and it slowly put on branches and growth. Three years later it has turned into a lovely small tree, back on track. I know this isn't usually how that story turns out, but it did for me.

Cleave of Destruction

Comments (14)

Cher

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

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Cleave of Destruction

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tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱Original Author

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