western-queensland-gardening-guide.pdf - South West NRM
western-queensland-gardening-guide.pdf - South West NRM
western-queensland-gardening-guide.pdf - South West NRM
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Half measures in the construction of guards often lead to disappointment. Some<br />
design suggestions are listed in Table 8.<br />
Guards must stand the test of time: They need to be effective at least until the<br />
trees are out of stock reach. (This may be up to five years with some trees). In<br />
some cases, the expense involved in the construction of strong guards can be<br />
offset by making them re-useable.<br />
Guards should use available resources: Examples might be old tanks with the<br />
ends knocked out, old fence netting or barbed wire, stacks of fence posts, hollow<br />
logs, fuel drums, pallets, stacks of tyres, fertiliser bags or bottle-top skeletons.<br />
Even simple electric fencing can be very effective.<br />
Costs should be considered: The costs involved in buying, making and setting<br />
up tree guards vary with type and materials. Consider not just material costs, but<br />
also time involved in construction when working out the most cost-effective tree<br />
guard for your purposes. A tree guard constructed of heavy mesh may be<br />
expensive to buy, but the savings in labour inputs and long-term recyclable life<br />
may offset the cost.<br />
Guards have other benefits: Certain types of tree guards may have other benefits<br />
as well as animal protection. The use of plastic tubes or fertiliser bags to protect<br />
trees from hares also creates a micro-climate around the young tree. This helps<br />
protect the young tree from wind and frost damage and also raises humidity<br />
levels and reduces evaporation loss. This can promote early growth of the tree<br />
and lead to better establishment. It also makes trees visible when undertaking<br />
follow-up weed control.<br />
The guard must be firmly secured around the tree: Depending on the<br />
application, guards may have to face high winds, floods, hungry animals or<br />
animals just looking for something to rub against. If this type of pressure cannot<br />
be resisted, then tree damage may result. There is a range of commercially<br />
available tree guards. Most are designed to protect trees from small animals, or to<br />
exclude lgrger animals. Information on these is usually available through stock<br />
and station agents.<br />
Finding the ideal tree protection system for a particular tree planting requires some<br />
ingenuity on the part of the tree planter in adapting resources at his or her disposal.
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