# Wire mesh or plastic deer fence they advertise



## shooter (Feb 9, 2001)

Fencing in my Apple orchard 100 trees asking for some advice from you Apple people what is your opinion on wire mesh or plastic deer fencing they sell.


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## mjh4 (Feb 2, 2018)

We use wire welded 5t tall fence with T-posts. And spiral wrapped the tree trunks (other wise critters especially rabbits will chew on the base of the tree and kill it) we had to use the T-posts because they grip in the ground better. We have tried wooden posts with wire mesh and the deer bust right through it. The heavy duty fence and posts cost more but you'll save more trees.


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


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## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

Plastic deer fencing ?? Do you mean snowfence ? Protecting 1 tree at a time or protecting all 100 with a large fenced in area ? 
Can't see plastic working without a lot to posts.

L & O


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## shooter (Feb 9, 2001)

Liver and Onions said:


> Plastic deer fencing ?? Do you mean snowfence ? Protecting 1 tree at a time or protecting all 100 with a large fenced in area ?
> Can't see plastic working without a lot to posts.
> 
> L & O


Yes there are a couple company’s that sell plastic 7ft tall plastic fencing for deer.I would be planting all in a fenced area not single fence each one.Im learning towards stacking 2 rolls of 4 ft high wire mesh.But didn’t know if any one used the plastic deer fence.Plans are keeping trees in there for 2 years.They are 3 plus years old now trees


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## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

These are in pots now and will stay in pots the next 2 years ? Concerned about mice ?

L & O


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## shooter (Feb 9, 2001)

Liver and Onions said:


> These are in pots now and will stay in pots the next 2 years ? Concerned about mice ?
> 
> L & O


Yes in pots now will be planting in the same pots they are bio degradable.Have tubes for mice blue ones .Bought this baby with a 12 inch post hole digger to help out.


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## Hear fishy fishy (Feb 9, 2013)

The black deer fencing works poor from what I have heard. A buddy tried it on a food plot where smell is present and the deer ran right threw it. I believe one of the clubs up north were using it to protect areas to get white oak regeneration, so it must work some what. However apples have smell and deer or bear might not respect it. Might work better if they made it white and not black for the deer to see better.


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## 2ESRGR8 (Dec 16, 2004)

I would just use a hot wire 4' off the ground. About 3' out from that down low run another hot wire maybe 1' to 18" off the ground. Deer will not jump over, they want to jump up. If they hit the low wire with the leg they back up, seeing the high wire at a distance keeps them from jumping. We use this method on our community garden in a very high density deer area as in deer browse in the lawn outside this fenced area every day and they stay out of the many vegetable gardens planted within. In full disclosure we do run a single row of chicken wire around the bottom to keep rabbits out. Whether that affects the deer as a deterrent I am not sure but it's only what two feet high? It runs directly under the hot "high wire." 
Keep everything mowed so the aerial predators can assist with mouse and vole control.


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## fowlharvestor (Oct 10, 2011)

I avoided the plastic on trees and shrubs based off others advice. If you save anything on the fencing the cost will come back on you via added posts. I don’t have a lot of experience with fruit trees but I see a lot of guys use 4-6 ft fence with the big mesh and one post. Or they use that Big square concrete mesh support and no posts.


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## redpentobean (Jun 26, 2014)

I tend to believe the plastic is so flimsy and cheap its almost not even worth the cheap price to even buy it. For me - I always spend the extra few $ and go with metal mesh instead of plastic. If there WAS a strong plastic that I believed could stand up and be worthwhile, I have yet to see it! I go with a galvanized or stainless hardware cloth - something like the welded wire here: www.bwire.com .

mjh4 - can you lay out some more information on "t-posts" for us - not sure if they are exactly what I had in mind. Its funny how I tend to just do things the way I have always done them, and rarely have time or effort to think outside of the box....


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## Wild Thing (Mar 19, 2010)

For a fully enclosed orchard you can use 2"X4"X72" welded wire fence (6' high). The deer will not jump it. I used an 8" 3 Pt auger to auger my holes and used 4X4 post - 10' On Center.










I used 6"X6" post for corners and gates...










Built this fence in 2007 and have never had a deer inside except a couple of times when I left the gate open.










You can use steel T-Posts also but, of course the wooden fence will be stronger but we had this fence around my wife's garden for several years and never had deer inside here either. We did have to put chicken wire around the bottom 2-3 feet to keep rabbits out. They can run right through a 2"X4" fence like it isn't even there.










For fencing individual trees I have used 4', 5' and 6' high fencing (2X4 welded wire). After 25 years I have settled on 5' being the best IMO. I do like to remove the lower branches early on so that the bottom branches are at least 4-5 feet above ground level. With 6' high fence your lower laterals will get damaged rubbing the fence.










Don't forget to use window screen or 1/4" hardware cloth to wrap the lower 24" of the stem for protection from chewing rodents.


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## Luv2hunteup (Mar 22, 2003)

I made the mistake of not using tall enough spiral rap. If you are in the high snow fall zone go with 36’ or higher protection. Voles got to everything higher than 2’ on my apple trees and killed 5 out of 8. We had 3-1/2’ of snow cover for months.


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