Originally Posted by
carl1191
If or when you were to plant the shrubs you would defenitely have to tube them to protect them until they are big enough to withstand browsing. But by doing some kind of control on the invasives, you will be promoting native vegetation to grow. Just trying to say that for the long term health of the habitat on your property it would be wise to try to practice some sort of control on the Barberry and Autumn Olive. I could defenitely find the best control methods for you if you want. I know barbarry is easy to kill, but I'm not as familiar with controlling Autumn Olive.
I know, I know.... its just that for the shrubs/trres to reach a size/height to withstand hungry deer can be a decade of tubing and then, fencing. Its slow, expensive and a losing battle. What I've been doing is going to the nursuries in the fall and buying up their 8-10 foot fruit trees for $20 bucks apiece (they don't want to be bothered digging them in for the winter). Actually its cheaper and you get results in just a year or so (fruit not browse). I fertilize the plants which are browsed by the deer (blackberry dogwoods etc) to give them a leg up but its also a losing battle. The only thing that works is planting a winter crop like turnips which "sweeten" after they freeze and provide a favored food in late winter when deer are most aggressive.
The barberry does provide cover and the autum olive new shoots seem to get browsed in spring. what do u think kills the autom olive other than repeated mowing???