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Arborvitae Deer Damage

Arborvitae (Thuja spp.) Create a particularly delicious snack for deer. Based on the kind, the trees grow from 10 to 200 feet tall and are employed in the landscape since ornamental trees, hedges or privacy screens. They’ve red-brown bark and scaly leaves — the latter of which deer may eat when needed.

At-Risk Arborvitae

Few arborvitae are safe from deer, especially in the winter when food is scarce. They’re most susceptible in suburban areas where available food is even scarcer because of lack of additional greenery. Eastern Arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis) is prone to serious damage, while western redcedars (Thuja plicata) are the least susceptible of the arborvitae family. No arborvitae is totally safe from deer, however.

Damage

When deer eat arborvitae, they graze on the slopes from the bottom of the tree to as large as they can reach. This leaves green just on the tops of their trees and “bare legs” on the underside, as PennLive.com’s George Weigel wrote at a 2009 blog. The hurt doesn’t kill the trees, but it leaves an unsightly landscape mark. When the deer eat to healthy wood, then the tree will never fill the bare spots. If some growth is left on the tree, then it may recover in the following seasons if doesn’t again become food in the winter months.

Recovery

For trees that have no green left, you may either eliminate them or plant other trees in front of these to cover the bare spots. Plants that do have green development remaining require a little additional care. Fertilize in spring with a granulated evergreen water and fertilizer them through dry periods in the summertime. Both of these measures will motivate the arborvitae to push out new development, which you can then protect in the winter months.

Prevention

It is possible to protect the trees in sunlight when deer are mostly likely to hurt them. You may erect a physical barrier, such as a fence, but if you apply the arborvitae for landscaping, this may not be an appealing choice. Store-bought deer repellents function but need to be re-applied often because they degrade over time in snow and rain. If you would rather have a natural cure, North Dakota State University suggests creating a glue of a couple of garlic cloves, cayenne pepper and water and painting it above the bottom half of their trees. This additionally requires frequent reapplication.

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