Plant-and-forget trees

[Greg Webster]

Hi all,

We have own a plot of land in growing areas 3/4 (Quesnel, BC) with silty soil that is mostly growing Dounglas Fir and Aspens.

Eventually we'd like to build a house there, but I wonder if there are trees we can mostly plant-and-forget that will survive on their own and give us something edible eventually.

It may have to survive the ravages of deer and bear however.

Is there anything that might be workable?

Thanks,

Greg

[Pat Kiewicz]

Deer will browse almost anything I could suggest. Probably anything you plant should be surrounded by chicken wire until it gets big.

Some suggestions more of a large shrubs than trees.

About the first thing that comes to my mind right now would be serviceberries. But the birds will mob them. These are genus Amelanchier. Also called juneberries and saskatoons. They can be nice to eat, if the birds let any get ripe. These are on a list of woody plants 'occasionally damaged' by deer.

You might also consider elderberries. These might also be browsed by deer.

All the tree fruits (apples, cherries, plums and such) are listed as 'fequently browsed' by deer.

[Rick]

Yes, I agree that most fruit trees are very attractive to deer. However, you might try full sized fruit trees like hardy disease/insect resistant apples and plums and pie type cherries, maybe even sweet cherries (not on drawfing roootstock). These trees will grow rapidly in your conditions, and soon be too tall for the deer to clobber. Since you are not in a hurry, I suggest planting slips (very cheap) surrounded by 6-8 foot tall cylinders of concrete reinforcing mesh (also called steel fabric). This mesh (with about 5 inch square holes) is reasonably cheap, will not rust out, will stand up by itself, and offers good protection from deer. Make the cylinders about 3 foot in diameter. The deer will keep your slips prunned until the trunk is 6 or so feet high, so you will have less to do. I lost about 1/2 the trees I planted in a similar manner. Most of the losses did not appear to be from deer. I did not have bears to contend with. I supposed the bears might knock down the fencing to get to the fruit. However, full size tress do not come into fruit for 4-5 years, and by then they are good sized. You will have to pick from a ladder. Another thing to consider is nut trees. Their bark is not so tasty, and once they start fruiting the squirrels may even plant enough for you to get some ;-P

[Jon Shemitz]

I'd lean towards nut trees instead of fruit trees - any sweet fruit is going to be very appealing to bears.