Chicken Wire Fence for Year-round Protection
Young trees and shrubs have tender bark that is easily damaged by lawn mowers, string trimmers and hungry rabbits. Cuts and bites to the bark can disrupt the flow of water and nutrients between the tree’s leaves and roots. If the bark is damaged all the way around the trunk, the wound can be fatal.
Installing a chicken wire fence around young, newly planted trees or shrubs is an easy, inexpensive way to protect their trunks year-round and, unlike tree guards that wrap around the trunk, they allow air and sunlight to get through. Hardware cloth can also be used, but it can be more expensive and more difficult to work with. Don’t use plastic fencing as string cutters and rabbit teeth can cut through this.
Your chicken wire fence will last one to two years, but continue to keep trimmers and lawn mowers away from all tree trunks – with or without protection.
Materials
- Chicken wire fencing (1 to 1.2 metres height, 2 to 3 metres length)
- Four stakes (bamboo or wooden, minimum 1.2 metres height)
- Four ground staples
- Wire cutters
- Rubber mallet (or hammer)
- Zip-ties (optional)
Instructions
- Select four points around the tree that are 20 to 30 centimetres away from the trunk to place the stakes.
- Wrap the fencing around the outside of the stakes.
- Using the wire cutters, cut the required length of chicken wire fencing to wrap around the four stakes, ensuring you have approximately 20 centimetres extra length so that the ends will overlap.
- Ensure the seam is securely closed by twisting the wires of each end around the fence. For extra security, you can also add three to four zip-ties to close the seam.
- To prevent rabbits from crawling under, anchor the fence to the ground by placing one ground staple between each pair of stakes.
The fence may seem unnecessarily tall, but keep in mind that in the winter rabbits will sit higher when there’s snow on the ground.