Protecting apple trees question

[volsfan1976]

So I bought some apple trees I'm gonna plant on the land I bought. It's all wooded so I have been clearing a couple of spots to plant them. Seems like I have heard people talk about this but my question is since I'm cutting trees down to clear, could I plant my trees and then just pretty much surround them with the tree tops or should I cage them. The ones I bought are 6-7 foot tall. Thanks.

 

[Popcorn]

Cages! 4 ft diameter and 6 ft tall staked down! otherwise they dont stand a chance

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Make sure they get a lot of sun. As Popcorn said, you have to cage them. Drive rebar or 2 T-posts in the ground on both sides of the tree and use that for fence support. Make sure the limbs aren't rubbing up against the fence. If you don't do this, they will get killed by the bucks this fall. They are a magnet for rubbing posts. Make sure and weed-eat several times a year. I'm actually tired of weed-eating them and will be putting weed mats around the base of each of ours in the coming months. Best of luck!

 

[Boll Weevil]

Cage'em. There's a whole lineup of critters to trash your trees from shrews to rabbits to deer.

 

[MickThompson]

Cages. You don't have to worry about browse damage after they get 6-7' y'all but the bucks will have a hey day with them

And hope the bears don't find them

 

[Monk74]

I cage mine with regular five foot farm fence. About a 3 foot circle. Works great so far. I had problems with voles eating all the roots. Notice one leaning. Everything below dirt level had been eaten.

 

[backyardtndeer]

Definitely cage them. Like mentioned above, use a couple t posts for each tree.