It's now 6 months since I planted the 200 whips, and despite a dry start to the summer, many of the trees have flourished. Around half of them have between 1m and 2m growth on top. The other half have between 500mm and 1m growth. I've shown some of the larger ones below up against a jeep to give an idea of scale. (Note the jeep has a 2" lift kit and big tyres fitted!)
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| 1.5-2m growth |
Interestingly there are around 10 trees which have developed floral-like leaf growths in random places. I've never seen this before, and can't find much info on it online. Some of them grew at the top of the whip, others are midway along the new growth. I've added a picture below!
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| Floral Pattern |
Now for the bad news, after 6 months of being left alone, the deer have finally discovered the plantation. I noticed around 10 trees that had long branches stripped of leaves and snapped in two. There are 3 or 4 where the deer have eaten most of the growth back to the original whip. I'm not sure if these will survive, time will tell I guess.
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| Deer Damage |
Some online research suggests the deer hate the smell of soap, so I found a box of old soap bars, split them in half and hung them like Christmas Tree decorations on every third or fourth tree. This is a temporary measure until I have time to put up an electric fence. It will be interesting to see if the soap works in the meantime!
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Soap Deer Deterrent!
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Update- 2 weeks later, and no additional deer damage despite a noticeable increase in deer around the area. Soap seems to be working for now!
