Last year I grew four london plane seedlings from seed into happy little treelets.
I grew them in buckets. But once they were bit enough to make it on their own, I planted them on the slope of my yard. My back yard is flat but at the edges, its a very steep slope down to a lower level where a stream is. So I figure a few extra trees will help keep everything in place. Plus london planes are a cool tree, great for climbing etc. And because it's on the slope, the peeling bark won't bother me at all.
So at first the little baby trees thrived.
And then the rabbits came.
And thats the end of my little trees.
Actually one has re-sproutded after all its leaves and most of its stem were eaten. But I suspect it will get eaten again and die like its brothers.
One option is to eliminate the rabbits. I'm looking in to this but in the meantime, or even in addition to this, I still need some kind of inexpensive protection. Here in Massachusetts, we are FULLY infested with rabbits. They are everywhere. Theres at least half a dozen in every single suburban lawn, at all times.
One thing that makes this a little more difficult is the way the trees are planted on the slope. It makes it pretty tricky to just wrap some chicken wire around some stakes or anything like that. I figure once the tree is 2' tall, it should be big enough to keep growing out of the reach of those little brown assholes. I also don't really have the means to grow them in pots until they are that large.
Any ideas?
I grew them in buckets. But once they were bit enough to make it on their own, I planted them on the slope of my yard. My back yard is flat but at the edges, its a very steep slope down to a lower level where a stream is. So I figure a few extra trees will help keep everything in place. Plus london planes are a cool tree, great for climbing etc. And because it's on the slope, the peeling bark won't bother me at all.
So at first the little baby trees thrived.
And then the rabbits came.
And thats the end of my little trees.
Actually one has re-sproutded after all its leaves and most of its stem were eaten. But I suspect it will get eaten again and die like its brothers.
One option is to eliminate the rabbits. I'm looking in to this but in the meantime, or even in addition to this, I still need some kind of inexpensive protection. Here in Massachusetts, we are FULLY infested with rabbits. They are everywhere. Theres at least half a dozen in every single suburban lawn, at all times.
One thing that makes this a little more difficult is the way the trees are planted on the slope. It makes it pretty tricky to just wrap some chicken wire around some stakes or anything like that. I figure once the tree is 2' tall, it should be big enough to keep growing out of the reach of those little brown assholes. I also don't really have the means to grow them in pots until they are that large.
Any ideas?
