Collins Kids Food Forest - Phase 1

[matt walker]

Great info George, thank you again. It really is food for thought, and I appreciate how much effort you are putting into getting the trees a good start. I purchased around 300 evergreens from the state to reforest some of my land when I first got here about 10 years ago. Lost almost all of them, in my naivete, to livestock. Fencing is no joke if you are going to mix livestock with any new tree plantings, and is one of the reasons I am moving so slowly on more plantings. The costs (and labor!) rise rapidly if every area needs secure fencing until the trees mature. I'm curious what system of fencing you use to protect the trees, especially the individual tree protection. I've got some mature trees that I need to protect from the sheep, but would still like relatively easy access to. I can fence off the whole orchard, but am more interested in protecting just the trees, so I can continue to graze the critters in there.

[George Collins]

For the cages around the chestnut seeds which the cows destroyed, I used what in this part of the world we call "hog wire" but which I think is more commonly called net wire. The fence was cut to length and formed into cylinders ~ 2' in diameter. Two steel posts were driven into the ground at the proper distance to affix the wire cage to. The cage was elevated ~ 1' off the ground and affixed to the posts. I then put a wire bottom on the cylinder made out of 1" chicken wire and finished it off by wrapping the bottom of each cage with 1 foot of 1 inch chicken wire.

Two things were wrong with this set up. Because the posts were meant to be moved as soon as the trees were of a size the cows would leave them alone, the posts were driven into the ground just deep enough that the wedge shaped thingy near the bottom of the post was just even with the top of the ground. That is why I found one of my cages laying completely on it's side here a few weeks back.

The second mistake I made was using net wire. All the trees we had fenced in prior to this (such as the Dunstan chestnuts and many of the live oaks) had been enclosed with concrete reenforcement wire which is substantially more resilient and (I think) more noxious for a cow to rub up against. We didn't get a single bit of cow damage to any one of those trees but of the ten I made from net wire, well they look like the Witch King of Agmar's helmet in LOTR as he was in his death throes.

[matt walker]

[George Collins]

Yes, all of the concrete reenforcement wire I've ever seen has had a layer of rust on it. My daddy started using it to fence the deer out of his garden (which has worked perfectly). Pretty much we use hog wire topped with a strand of barbed wire or either a 4-strand barbed wire fence to keep things IN. Anytime we want to keep something OUT, Pops always uses concrete reenforcement wire.

The only reason I got the danged net wire in the first place was because I happened to be at a farm supply store, I needed to get those chestnut seed in the ground, I just happened to have my trailor and I just happened to be parked by where they keep their net wire. i.e. It was an impulse buy.

The electric fence that I just bought will represent the first such fencing that has ever been used on our farm.

I sure hope it does a better job than those net wire cages.

[matt walker]

That electric fence should do the trick. Mine won't go near it. I did try to acclimate them all to it in a paddock that had proven solid fencing as well. I used temporary step in posts and made a hot fence about 3' in from the existing fence in a smallish paddock. That way they get used to it somewhere they are comfortable, and will stay in.

[pa_friendly_guy]

Electric fence will work well to keeps cows in once they get used to it. I worked for a farmer when I was young and one of my jobs, when he moved his cows to a new pasture, was to stand guard until they got settled down. The cows seemed to get all fussed up when they were moved. If you put then in and left them they might run right through the fence befor they even knew what it was. If you let them approch it slowly, and check it out with their nose, you have them in. Once they get a shock they won't go near that fence any more. It didn't take long for them to settle down.

[George Collins]

South Mississippi has skipped winter it seems. Many fruit trees are budding out. My cute little baby fig trees were working hard to open up their first set of leaves this year when, over the weekend, the temperature dropped to 30 degrees for two nights in a row turning our brown world white for a few minutes each morning.

Are they likely to suffer any permanent damage from being nipped by frost so early in their young lives?

[eeldip]

i bet they will be fine. figs are pretty tough out here in the NW. do you get one or two crops down in Miss? and what variety of figs are you growing?

[George Collins]

They are transplants from a friend's yard so I'm relying on her knowledge as to the type. But she believes them to be Celeste and Brown turkey.

[George Collins]

Work today was unexpectedly brief. A FedEx package was waiting for me at home. The trees all seemed to have arrived in good shape.

Now where's that shovel cause Daddy's bout to put some more roots down.