Use Fencing Stakes to Protect your Trees

The early, formative years at the most critical and important for your garden trees as these are the years when the trees will take root and anchor themselves in the ground and when the young buds and branches will turn the skinny whip into a shapely tree. This is why it is all important to protect your trees in its early years and fencing stakes can do that.

Tree stakes and fencing stakes are used to stake and support trees which is important to provide good anchorage in the ground for the tree’s roots. But stakes are of course also used when erecting fencing and barriers to enclose areas and protect trees, shrubs and crops.

There are a number of animals that trees need to be protected from, these mostly include rabbits, hares, cats, cattle and horses. If you live next to farm land then it is very possible that your trees are at risk of being attacked by these naughty animals. I say naughty because really there doesn’t seem to be any good reason why cattle and horses eat the tops of trees other than to upset us gardeners. But yet at every opportunity they will bite at young vulnerable trees.

Rabbits and hares can also cause severe damage to whole plantations of trees over night. These pests will bite the tips off young trees ruining their future shape. However unlike horses, rabbits and hares are really only a problem to young trees.

To control against these pests you will need to erect fencing to keep these animals from getting near your trees. If horses are your problem then you just need to put down fencing stakes and run a strip of barbed wire along the top. The fence and wire should be around 1m high with the fencing stakes positioned about 3 M apart. But remember that the horses have long necks so the fence will need to be around 2M from the trees if they are to remain fully protected.

When protecting against horses you should also tie a bright string to the barbed wire at spacing’s of about 2M. This brightly coloured string will help to deter the horses from trying to push the wire or get under it.

If your trees are positioned far apart and a fence is not economical then you can always make a square or triangular fence around each individual tree. Again remember that the horses have a long reach so space the fencing stakes and fencing as far away from the tree as possible.

Young trees will need protection from horses for many years. Only when the tree is relatively mature and the lowest branches reach up above a horse’s head is the tree safe. With this in mind it is good practice to erect a solid and permanent fence. Treated fencing stakes and timber sections and some good carpentry skills is all you need.