Tree Sentry .Net

Do I need the Browse Mesh for my shelters?

Most applications simply require the conical shelter alone to obtain the dramatic improvements in the survival rates. If your sites have heavy browse pressure from larger browsers like deer, cattle or elk populations, the browse mesh will reduce this problem. Some browsing may be expected from larger animals as the seedling emerges from the top of the cone or mesh. If the browsing from larger animals is especially heavy, mesh is recommended to allow the seeding to grow past the point at which at can be over browsed, not allowing the seedling to grow vertically, potentially causing the seedling to remain a small shrub well into its years.

The browse mesh allows the seedling to feel the affects of the wind - a needed and healthy activity - and to sense the change in seasons to properly to enable to planting to enter and emerge dormant stages opposite the growing season. To fully enclose a seedling to a height over 2 ft makes it more susceptible to die back. This "die back" occurs when a planting either fails to enter dormancy early enough before the first hard freeze occurs and the plant is still growing with sap circulating which freezes and causes fatal damage to affected areas. This usually occurs to the extremities of the planting.

If you witness die back - evidenced by brown, lifeless extremities on the plant inside a shelter, do not immediately discard or remove the planting. The plant will most often recover during the growing season, with the dead portions falling to the ground to be followed by new shoots emerging.

I just received my tree shelters and the ground is so hard I can't push them into the soil. What should we do?

At times the soil is heavily compacted and it's difficult to even dig the hole for the seedling, let alone push 3 stakes into the ground simultaneously. There are several solutions:

1) Pick the Right Season;  Cold, wet days in the early spring are not the favorite time of year to be out in the field, but they're great for planting, with the soils tending to be wetter than any other time of year.  Mid to late fall before freezing occurs is also a time when soils tend to be moist and an advantageous time to plant.  With the seedlings ready to enter a dormant stage, this also allows the soils to settle around the seedling's root system before growth resumes in the spring.  In short, proper timing alone can alleviate your planting difficulties a great deal, and promote a successful project.  On these cold, wet days, you'll also appreciate not having to remove your gloves to fuss with fishing external ties and stakes as some shelter systems require, not to mention the savings in your time spent in the field.

If you've already missed the time of spring when the surface water has just run off, or you're well ahead of the fall rains,  you can always tote a bucket of water and let it soak into the plant site long enough to loosen the soil.   This initial watering can also really improve the speed at which the root mass penetrates the soil and gives your plant a healthier start.

2) Use of the Hoedad or Dibble Bar.  Hoedad planting is very popular for large scale projects.  The hoedad is a pick-like tool, with a wide (usually about 4") flat cutting face.  You swing it like a pick or an ax, drive it into the soil and rock it back and forth once to create a V-notch in the soil.  The hoedad can also easily be used to break up hard soils around the planting to ease shelter installation, if necessary. 

A Dibble Bar is a straight, shovel-like tool with a long, narrow scoop - picture using one-half of a post-hole digger - with a foot rest on each side of the scoop and a T-bar handle.   A very handy tool, a little slower that a hoedad, but safer and less strenuous than swinging a tool overhead and well-suited for the community projects where children and those less familiar with field safety may be on the planting crew.   If you need help locating a hoedad or dibble bar, there are a number of forestry suppliers we can put you in contact with. www.baileysonline is a wholesale forestry supplier with a wide assortment of tree planting and harvesting tools available through their catalog.  Tell them Summit sent you!

If the project you're on is extremely rocky or hard, such as a revegetation project for a strip mine, sometimes special measures are required.  For example: You push the shelter stakes into the ground to meet a hard obstruction.  First try backing out the shelter and clocking it in one direction or the other and try again to push it to the ground.  If you cannot find a spot where it can go in, you still have several options.  It's possible to nip off one or two of the wires back a few inches and not seriously affect the stability of the shelter.  You may even have to remove one of them completely.    Spring loaded "iron worker" pliers work best for this task as they have an ergonomic, spring loaded handle, have plenty of leverage, and allow you to cut the stake with one hand. 

If none of this is working, you may be left with driving a steel bar into the soil to drive a hole for the steel stakes to start in.   This is not fun and slows down the installation process, but planters and foresters pick some tough, tough planting sites, which need shelters just the same.  If you use any brand of shelters on these kinds of sites, you'll be busting a lot of oak stakes and frustrating yourself just the same.   So, just prepare yourself with piece of rebar and a nice 3 LB hammer or mallet

3) Till or turn the soil: This becomes a last resort for most projects, but it has a number of benefits.  Loose soil will help the root stock establish itself as well as ease the installation effort required for the seeding and the shelter.  This can be accomplished with a simple shovel but may take several deliberate heaves with your boot for heavily compacted soils.   Other sites have access to powered augers, where the augured hole loosens the soil sufficiently around the seedling to ease planting and the insertion of the Tree Sentry.

I've removed the shelters from the box and I'm having difficulty getting them apart.

The rigors of the road getting to your site can compact the nested shelters together, making separation seem difficult. There are stop ribs on to of the stake bosses to keep them from over compacting, but we still occasionally hear of this. Simply lay the shelters down along the ground and apply heavy weight with one foot (flattening the shelters) as you roll the shelters back and forth several times beneath your foot. This quickly frees the shelters from each other. Don't worry, you won't hurt them as the shelters are very resilient when new, so you won't crack them by putting a lot of weight on them.