When ground growing goes wrong

[Lorax7]

Some of the best bonsai are the result of browsing or weather damaged trees. This may slow the thickening a little but may just add loads of potential in the long run.

I was mad at the time when a rodent did quite a bit of chewing on the trunk of one of my Japanese maples (naturally, they picked the one that is furthest along in its development of the ones that were originally landscape nursery stock, not pre-bonsai when I got them). Now, after another growing season, I'm actually pretty ok with what happened as the tree survived just fine and it gave the bark on the trunk some character that looks very natural. Still, I'm not tempting fate again. I wrap the trunks of my deciduous trees with copper mesh before I take them down off the benches and set them on the ground for the winter. Lesson learned.

 

[Ugo]

Hi!

Just my personal opinion but I think bonsai has to be related to nature and elements.
Im not saying you should let animals or pest eat your trees but more protection could be easily installed without killing any living being.

At some point your tree did exatly what its intended to do.
If theses scars shows the result will be even more convincing.
Nothing more boring than a perfectly straight nursery stock tree with perfect bark.
Instead study how it broke off and try to replicate it when needed!

Take it as a design help and a new challenge
Ugo

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

No chronic wasting issues around here. No rules against feeding as far as I know. I do have sympathy for them, we have pushed into their habitat. When I moved out here 20 years ago it was totally woods, now it's neighborhood after neighborhood. Deer are already overpopulated and then add a rapidly shrinking territory...we may be due for something like CWD given those conditions.

My bother lives in the 'burbs in Austin, and a deer gave birth in his front yard one day. I watched the mama deer chase a lady walking 2 dogs, probably a good quarter mile. There aren't even woods around, the deer just mosey about during the day even.

I live in the country and only see them while I'm driving early in the morning or late at night. My neighbor about a half mile away is constantly out shooting for target practice, and that's one of the reasons I don't see them in my yard or garden. Seeing them in Broad daylight is crazy around here, pretty sure they know better. Venison is good!

 

[yashu]

The white tailed deer population in North America has exploded since European colonization. Current population is 1000 times larger than population prior 1490. Main reason, we killed off the wolves, cougars, Lynx (northern), bobcat (Southern), and otherwise disrupted the normal predator prey relationships. While you and I can't really do much about it, there eventually needs to be something done to change deer population dynamics.

I’m not sure that your population numbers are correct. Pre-Columbian population estimates are that there were around 30 million whitetail deer in North America. By the end of the 1800”s the population had been reduced to below 350,000 animals by commercial hunting. This information is per PERC. Researchgate.net puts numbers in a similar area with a handy graph showing the demise and rebound. The rebound due to first conservation efforts and then to loss of interest in hunting and municipalities making hunting difficult or impossible in some areas. While the numbers are said to near equal precolumbian estimates they are definitely not “1000 times larger” and in fact are matching precolonial numbers. I think most of your points still stand regardless of total population numbers because population density has changed drastically increasing the threat of diseases, overgrazing and starvation.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Estimated-US-Deer-Population-1450-to-2016-Year-2000-to-2016-estimated-from-combined_fig3_344865578

As a hunter in Maine I see our state’s deer population rise and fall with environmental fluctuations but we are well regulated so conflict is kept to a minimum. That said we also don’t have the same human population density issues that other places have.

 

[Calnicky]

We need more WOLVES !!

 

[Calnicky]

We have mountain lions for our deer problem, although not enough. Admittedly, it does make parents nervous when a lion shows up at the middle school playground. Have seen deer kills at the local state park - which is at an old army fort and pretty urban. Don't know for sure it was lions...could have been coyote, I guess. When I moved into the new house, no fewer than 3 groups of people walking by said they hoped I wouldn't feed the deer like the previous owners.

Needless to say, any bonsai I care about is behind a 6' fence with a deer rail on top of that. They don't eat conifers, boxwood or pieris, if that helps. Everything I have is in pots - because I just moved in this summer so anything that does go into the ground is going to be fenced.

 

[rockm]

I’m not sure that your population numbers are correct. Pre-Columbian population estimates are that there were around 30 million whitetail deer in North America. By the end of the 1800”s the population had been reduced to below 350,000 animals by commercial hunting. This information is per PERC. Researchgate.net puts numbers in a similar area with a handy graph showing the demise and rebound. The rebound due to first conservation efforts and then to loss of interest in hunting and municipalities making hunting difficult or impossible in some areas. While the numbers are said to near equal precolumbian estimates they are definitely not “1000 times larger” and in fact are matching precolonial numbers. I think most of your points still stand regardless of total population numbers because population density has changed drastically increasing the threat of diseases, overgrazing and starvation.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Estimated-US-Deer-Population-1450-to-2016-Year-2000-to-2016-estimated-from-combined_fig3_344865578

As a hunter in Maine I see our state’s deer population rise and fall with environmental fluctuations but we are well regulated so conflict is kept to a minimum. That said we also don’t have the same human population density issues that other places have.

That the deer population is near 25 million now, according to more than one reference I've seen. That rebound was from the 350,000 animals in 1930 or so. That is millions gained in less than 100 years. Decline in human hunters is only a fraction of the reason for that dramatic rebound. Humans like the same kind of broken field, interspersed with dense wooded area environment as deer (lawns and suburban sprawl mingled with forests/woodlots). Our expansion into formerly thickly forested or other other areas previously unusable territory for deer is a much bigger contributor to the population explosion.

 

[Rivian]

We need more WOLVES !!

"We need more [ dangerous thing ]!!"
"In your neighborhood?"
"Hell no! Just.. generally."

 

[ShadyStump]

Despite what the hippies say, there's a reason wolves have been virtually exterminated worldwide. They're aggressive and unpredictable predators.

Whitetail deer are becoming so over populated now days that I see them here in the mountain foothills: further west than they've ever been recorded. They're actually hybridizing with the native mule deer population now, which is already out of control here.
Things like people feeding (illegal but not enforced) them and a massive decline in local hunting as the governor's office has raised prices of licenses to what only the wealthy can afford, and restricted seasons beyond what's ever been recommended by the department of wildlife.
My town has a herd of almost 200 mule deer! Human population in city limits and the adjoining areas is around 38k, in a valley of 16 or so square miles. Chronic wasting disease is rampant as is rabies and plague, tick problems for the first time EVER, and there's always a fresh roadkill maintained on most major roads. They do 10s of thousands of dollars in property damage every year not including the havoc wreaked on gardens or landscape, and have been known to get aggressive with humans and pets.
The governor's office has ordered the department of wildlife to take no action, and so far the city hasn't done anything either.

 

[dbonsaiw]

Lions, coyotes and deer - sounds like nature. In my neck of the woods, it's exciting when I see a possum. What we have are squirrels - tons and tons of friggin squirrels digging into everything.

As for wolves, you don't want no wolves. My mom grew up in the back woods of Romania where wolves were a real issue. Using the outhouse was an adventure that sometimes required bringing a weapon along. I can protect the bonsai from deer, but whose gonna protect me from the wolf?

 

[Wulfskaar]

We have mountain lions for our deer problem

We also have mountain lions down here along with tons of bobcats and coyotes. There are very few deer around, although I do see them a few times per year. Being a deer in southern California is not an easy life. With little wooded areas to hide in, lots of predators, constant wildfires, and of course, lot of people in cars, their population around here stays very low.

 

[ShadyStump]

Lions, coyotes and deer - sounds like nature. In my neck of the woods, it's exciting when I see a possum. What we have are squirrels - tons and tons of friggin squirrels digging into everything.

As for wolves, you don't want no wolves. My mom grew up in the back woods of Romania where wolves were a real issue. Using the outhouse was an adventure that sometimes required bringing a weapon along. I can protect the bonsai from deer, but whose gonna protect me from the wolf?

I don't mind nature. That's half the point of living in a small town.
It's when nature follows you into the house to steal your produce while you're bringing the groceries in from the car that I don't like.

Yes, actually happens. There's a video on YouTube somewhere, the security camera in the house of someone in Colorado Springs. Buck walked right in the kitchen door and starts rummaging through the bag while the person goes back to the car for another load. Got ran right over by the deer when they spooked each other.

 

[yashu]

I had a moose sit on my car last week but they generally stay out of the house.

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

I had a moose sit on my car last week but they generally stay out of the house.

Bullwinkle: "Hey, Rocky, watch me pull a VW rabbit out of my butt."

 

[VAFisher]

The first time I visited Julian Adam's place, I noticed a bunch of spent shotgun shells laying around. The deer were eating his azaleas and he was dealing with them. If I remember correctly, he got a permit from the city of Lynchburg because they were hurting his business. But it was a losing battle and he was getting out of growing azalea altogether.

 

[Flowerhouse]

We have mountain lions for our deer problem, although not enough. Admittedly, it does make parents nervous when a lion shows up at the middle school playground. Have seen deer kills at the local state park - which is at an old army fort and pretty urban. Don't know for sure it was lions...could have been coyote, I guess. When I moved into the new house, no fewer than 3 groups of people walking by said they hoped I wouldn't feed the deer like the previous owners.

Needless to say, any bonsai I care about is behind a 6' fence with a deer rail on top of that. They don't eat conifers, boxwood or pieris, if that helps. Everything I have is in pots - because I just moved in this summer so anything that does go into the ground is going to be fenced.

Actually, deer do eat conifers. They eat pine candles in spring, young needles in summer. They eat junipers and firs when there is snow cover. I don't know that they eat spruce, but they certainly knock off low branches during rut. In rural settings where there are hunting and predation along with more dispersed resources for deer, the damage to conifers is minimal. In my particular urban setting, conifers are heavily damaged by deer.

 

[Carol 83]

But it was a losing battle and he was getting out of growing azalea altogether.

That's a damn shame. I bought a couple teeny, tiny ones from him at a show 5 years ago.

 

[Gabler]

We need more WOLVES !!

Big dogs are safer and more effective. It takes a pack of wolves to bring down a deer, but just one dog.

 

[yashu]

Big dogs are safer and more effective. It takes a pack of wolves to bring down a deer, but just one dog.

Or a well placed 160 grains of .308. Probably more humane as well.

 

[Dav4]

No deer problem here…

This happened a couple of weeks ago… The one time I forgot to close the fencing to my bonsai garden