Hi, I haven't been active here in a while and I guess I lost my old account password...

I have a ~12 tree dwarf orchard in my yard, in an area with heavy deer population. The deer eat the lower branches on my trees, which regrow, but end up shorter than the top branches and mostly shaded out. Also, sometimes bucks will scrape the bark off, girdling large branches or entire trucks. I already have a plan to hopefully prevent future damage but I am hoping you guys may have some advice on what to do about the existing damage:

This redhaven peach was hit the worst. The bark is so ragged I can't tell exactly how bad it is, the main trunk is probably 60-80% girdled. Any chance of this living out the year - and hopefully producing? or recovering? This tree always had issues but has been a great producer.




This combo cherry is being taken over by the Bing cultivar, which is the the large vertical trunk and all branches up top. The other small branches at the bottom are three other sweet varieties. They don't grow much and have generally just been deer snacks. The only reason I haven't replaced this one entirely is because I've been hoping that the extra cultivars help pollination. I have a second Bing and another sweet cherry nearby.



Here is my other Bing. It is generally extremely healthy but deer girdled maybe 50-60% of one of the tree main trunks. I'm hoping it will survive. There is scrawny fourth trunk I left growing, any chance it could even out with the others if I lose this damaged branch, or will it always been scrawny and get shaded out?





This wilson delicious apricot is extremely healthy but never flowers much. The past two years it has only shown a dozen or so flowers and two fruit. Any idea why? I generally prune about 1/3 off the unbranched shoots. It grows them so long that I'm afraid they will be weak and break off. I apply only a very light 1:1:1 fertilizer to all trees yearly.



This golden del had its lower branches eaten off and now the top branches are far longer. It is still very young. Should I just head it off? Or cut the top branches short to match? It was also knocked clean over during the last hurricane, so root system could be damaged.

Well, nobody responded. I have left everything as-is. The damaged trees are still very much alive, and leafed out and flowered as if undamaged. However, it is still very early.

The apricot gave some flowers, more than last year but still very little compared to the peaches.

I'm going to see if the apples regain enough scaffolding branches to get a good shape, and if not I'll replace them when I have decent substitutes.

Venison steaks are very good.

I have a large deer issue as well. While I cant offer any real advise on the pruning, here is what I have done in the last year.
-Planted lavender in random places around the yard. They apparently do not like the smell.
-I built wire cages 4' around my trees that were getting hit often(peach, one apple(not the other three), plum, persimmon). This seems to keep the deer off them even when I do not put a wire lid on them.
-There is a granulated powder stuff you sprinkle around the areas you want the deer to stay out of. Forget what its called but it has some foul smelling stuff and is supposedly good for 2-3 months.

Since I have taken these actions I have not had much in the way of deer problems. While I live in the country so it isnt an eye sore, I have heard if you build a wire fence, even if just 4' tall and have it about two or three feet from the tree, the deer wont jump it since the landing area is so small.

I am not allowed to shoot the deer either, wife wont let me. Doesnt keep me from knocking off squirrels every chance I get...

Fence the yard in.

I would love to turn the tables and eat the deer but my property isn't large enough to meet even PA's very liberal distance requirements for hunting, and even with archery I don't want to have to fish a shot deer out of the neighbor's pool.

I'm going to fence part of the yard, use scent repellent, wire cage the main tree limbs, and maybe got a large dog.

Get a couple Rott's like I have. Even the squirrels avoid my yard.

Any tree completely girdled will die. If around a quarter of the bark is left and it doesn't get infected, the tree will usually survive. You can try to save complete girdled trees via bridge grafting: essentially grafting a section of bark or tree branches elsewhere to match up the cambium layer and bridge the girdle. This can be nailed on. I even saw a homeowner who's tree was completely girdled by goats top and bend large suckers to graft above the girdle into a hole cut into the bark...wild!

Hunting is an option and a good one if legal in your area. [In AZ it would have to be 1/4 mile from a road or occupied structure (the latter can opt to grant you approval in writing).]

As for deer: I assume you do not want to put up a 10' tall chain link around the entire area? Chain link fence wrapped loosely and secured around the tree trunks. You can even put bells or similar on the fence material to try and scare/stress them if they rub up against them if these trees are near your home. Let you know something is screwing around with your trees at 2AM. Of course if you go out to confront it you may find a bear with an itchy ass glaring back.

If it is not below freezing. Kid approved.

You can try deer repellant. It kind of works but it smells bad and needs to be reapplied a lot. Rotting eggs works best. Maybe hot pepper directly applied for taste barrier. Ditto for tossing your or carnivore scat around the tree or even peeing around the trees. You can sprinkle hair around too.

The best secondary protection would be planting underbrush under (around) the trees that the deer don't like to physically keep them at bay. Usually thorns keep you at bay too. Make them prefer elsewhere. When times are good these methods work well. When times are hard a hungry anything will either risk it or settle.

Ditto planting deer friendly crops nearby---feed them that instead of your trees.

If you do decide to put up a fence, you could put a line or two of electric fence up. We do it to keep deer out of blueberry fields. It only works if the deer get "aquainted" with the fence. We use strips of aluminum foil with peanut butter smeared on it.

Good to hear a 75% girdled tree may survive. I am aware of bridge grafting but I was led to believe that this only works when damage is fresh. This would have happened around rut... Oct/Nov of 2012. Didn't notice until winter pruning in Feb.

I live in a quiet suburban neighborhood so hunting and a massive or electrified fence are out of the question, too many little kids running around. If I could legally trap a deer you bet I would, though.

I'm planning to do all of the following if I have time:
- rotten eggs (I have 4mo old eggs still in shells)
- wire wrap or otherwise protect the main trunk and limbs to avoid girdling from buck rubs
- planting lavender around the base of each tree
- maybe a chain fence inside the bush line where I know they enter from.

We've kept deer out of gardens by taking hair collected from barber shops or salons and putting it in panty hose. You can then place these close to the wood line and the deer won't come around.