I have 2 cats. I'll introduce them more in a later post, but I have a male and female, brother and sister, Ziggy and Honey. They are mainly outdoor cats, and with that they have their claws. Now, I'm not sure who's to blame for this:
Yup, they are using my trees as scratching posts. I tend to blame Ziggy, but he is my trouble maker, boys will be boys! But I have also witness him doing it.
This doesn't look too bad, YET! I just planted this guy in August (snagged him off the clearance rank at our local nursery). I didn't take a picture of an older tree that I planted about 5-6 years ago, but he was(is) tattered.
Solution - Old drain tiles! We had some left over after we did some cement work around our walk out basement retaining walls.
We cut it to about 2 to 3 foot lengths. And then sliced it open, so it would easily wrap around the tree. And that is it, problem solved! And with this, there is another perk... Weed-whacking! Yup, with this hard plastic wrapped around the base of the tree, it protects the base of the truck from getting abused by the weed-whacker. Now, that could be operator error on my part, but it sure beats having to be delicate around the trees!
Now the pros suggest using white over black drain tile. Well, we had black tiles, so next time I think about it, I will pick up a can of white outdoor spray paint and have fun painting these white!
Now, Ziggy, use the scratching post in the garage, thanks!
Love your Momma
P.S. This also works to protect your trees from deer, you just have to use a longer piece of drain tile.
Thankfully I haven't had this problem yet, just them nibble on my new growth... (I have a trick for that too...!)
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