Keeping Deer Off Your Fruit Trees

Let's face it, deer can be a real pest when it comes to your young fruit trees. They enjoy them year-round, munching on green tender leaves, eating the bark and tender limbs, and even rubbing their antlers against them.

There are several ways to consider protecting your young trees from deer. In this video, Andrew explains a simple yet effective DIY deer cage he built on his homestead to protect his young orchard.

Ready to make your own? Follow these simple steps below.

Supplies:

  • 5 ft x 150 ft roll of concrete wire/steel mesh (this was enough for about 11 trees)
  • T-Post - One or two per tree
  • Tent stakes or landscape fabric staples
  • Baling wire or zip ties

Directions:

  1. Carefully unroll a portion of the wire, measuring around 13 ft in length. Cut the wire, leaving long enough wire to fold over the t-post at assembly.
  2. Drive a t-post about 3.5 - 4ft away from your tree.
  3. Standing your cut piece of wire up, secure one end (the end without the long wire) to the t-post using wire or zip ties.
  4. Encase the tree with the cage, bringing the other end (with the long wire tabs) to the other side of the t-post.
  5. Bend the long wire tabs over the t-post to secure.
  6. Place tent stakes or landscape fabric staples over the bottom of the wire cage directly across from the t-post. *For windy locations, or for extra protection, a second t-post can be placed there instead.

Don’t let animals have the pick of the garden before you can.