Deer and Cedars

[LoonASea]

What is with the deer and cedar trees and bushes???? Up here in the Duluth area it seems like every cedar has been hit by deer and we have never had problems with our cedars like this before ,,does any one have an explanation???

Randoid

[Powerstroke]

Dry conditions this year stunted most of the mast crops like acorns, hickory etc. Deer usually switch to browing this time of year and cedars are one of the many tings they will hit. SOund slike whatever they ususally hit is no longer available or was hit by the drought.

If the damage isn't too bad yet, you can check into products like Deer-Off. They are spray on products that are all natural and repel deer. Its works pretty well, but how long it lasts depends on the weather. You can find some other deer repellent ideas on here from earlier in the year.

Another thing you can do to prevent the damage is to wrap the bottom 5-6' of the foliage in burlap. It will protect the branches from browsing and snow loads.

[LoonASea]

Thanks for the info Powerstroke,,,our cedars are already protected,,the deer had just started to nibble on them before i wrapped them ,,,its just amazing to drive thru neighborhoods and see the damage they have done already and winter isnt really here yet,,,would it be fair to assume that the cedars wont recover from the damage??

Randoid

[Steve Foss]

As deer overpopulate suburban areas, like those in and around Duluth, they put a lot of pressure on food plants. White cedars (arborvitae) are typical winter browse for deer. Stroke is dead on. Tons of deer in and around Duluth, notwithstanding the city deer hunt this year, so no doubt they've switched to winter browse sooner than they may do when populations are leaner and there's more other browse to go along.

White cedars in rural areas, especially along lakeshores, often look like they've been pruned up from the bottoms by a hedgetrimmer. I've spent long hours trying to convince city slickers that the trim line is because that's as high as deer can reach in winter. They get that look like I'm a local pulling thier 612 leg.

[Finns]

Little Long Lake is a perfect example. You are right Steve it was something we had not seen down here so it took awhile to soak in.

Finns.

[Powerstroke]

What about my 612 leg......not that I've ever been referred to as a 612'r.

SOme of the very well to do areas around Lake Minnetonka and the Chain of Lakes in Mpls look exactly like this. Everyone wants to know why someone would purposely (sp?) trim all their arbo's to 5ft off the ground....and leave some scraggly branches without foliage. They find it so hard to believe. The same goes with rabbits. The deeper the snow is the higher the damage they will cause. I've already found areas where the bunnies have stripped the bark off of the loest branches of shrubs.