Being visible also prevents the tree from being mowed by a careless operator. This allows quicker inspection and maintenance. Shelters act as markers, making the trees easier to see. They act as a greenhouse, collecting light and warming the temperature inside the shelter for earlier growth in the spring and later growth in the fall. Tree shelters do more than just protect the seedling from deer, mice, voles and rabbits. Survivability also jumped from 65% to 74% when using four foot shelters instead of two foot shelters. In a two year study (20) conducted by James Starr, formerly of the VDOF he found that tree seedlings the same age, grew twice the height when using four foot shelters compared to two foot shelters. In addition, there is definitely a positive correlation between the height of the shelter and the growth of the seedling. In a Virginia study conducted by Jerre Creighton of the Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF) tree seedlings planted into pasture sod without shelters had 70% mortality whereas tree seedlings with shelters had 30% mortality. Deer repellents and wishful thinking don’t work nearly as well as shelters. From my experience with over half a million hardwoods I recommend shelters. The Internet has a plethora of published research on the effectiveness of tree shelters, some negative but most of it supports the use of shelters. In addition, most grasslands in the humid east are dominated by endophyte infected Tall Fescue which is a non-native grass that has allelopathic characteristics that can inhibit the growth of newly planted tree seedlings. It’s a harsh enough environment for the seedling because it’s being inserted into a grassland soil not a forest soil that has a much different microbial makeup. Planting a tree seedling into a sea of grasses that houses armies of mice, voles, rabbits and deer without protection from a shelter is a recipe for failure. Kyle Shwizer and Cam Morton of James Madison University planted a bare-root tree seedling with a four foot “Tubex” tree shelter.
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