If I was making a little fence arrangement of timber slats with gaps
between them to keep rabbits out what would the maximum width of the gap
need to be? I am thinking of keeping rabbits off a newly planted fruit
tree. How close would the bits of wood need to be to each other?

TW

On 12/10/2021 17:11, TimW wrote:
> If I was making a little fence arrangement of timber slats with gaps
> between them to keep rabbits out what would the maximum width of the gap
> need to be? I am thinking of keeping rabbits off a newly planted fruit
> tree. How close would the bits of wood need to be to each other?

No idea. What makes you think that they won't just burrow under the fence?

--

Jeff

On 12/10/2021 17:11, TimW wrote:
> If I was making a little fence arrangement of timber slats with gaps
> between them to keep rabbits out what would the maximum width of the gap
> need to be? I am thinking of keeping rabbits off a newly planted fruit
> tree. How close would the bits of wood need to be to each other?
>
> TW
about 1/2"

--
“It is not the truth of Marxism that explains the willingness of
intellectuals to believe it, but the power that it confers on
intellectuals, in their attempts to control the world. And since...it is
futile to reason someone out of a thing that he was not reasoned into,
we can conclude that Marxism owes its remarkable power to survive every
criticism to the fact that it is not a truth-directed but a
power-directed system of thought.”
Sir Roger Scruton

On 12/10/2021 18:30, Jeff Layman wrote:
> On 12/10/2021 17:11, TimW wrote:
>> If I was making a little fence arrangement of timber slats with gaps
>> between them to keep rabbits out what would the maximum width of the gap
>> need to be? I am thinking of keeping rabbits off a newly planted fruit
>> tree. How close would the bits of wood need to be to each other?
>
> No idea. What makes you think that they won't just burrow under the fence?
>

The normal advice is a cylinder of chicken wire is sufficient. Maybe the
bark and sap is a tasty snack when it's easy to reach but not worth the
bother of digging for. IDK. Rabbits know.

TW

On 12/10/2021 19:28, TimW wrote:
> The normal advice is a cylinder of chicken wire is sufficient. Maybe the
> bark and sap is a tasty snack when it's easy to reach but not worth the
> bother of digging for. IDK. Rabbits know.

You have unusually lazy rabbits.

The advice I have heard is to bury the wire horizontally outside the
exclusion area.

The rabbit come up to the fence, burrow down, find the wire and give up.

They aren't bright enough to back off a couple of feet and try again.

Andy

On 12/10/2021 21:43, Vir Campestris wrote:
> On 12/10/2021 19:28, TimW wrote:
>> The normal advice is a cylinder of chicken wire is sufficient. Maybe
>> the bark and sap is a tasty snack when it's easy to reach but not
>> worth the bother of digging for. IDK. Rabbits know.
>
> You have unusually lazy rabbits.
>
> The advice I have heard is to bury the wire horizontally outside the
> exclusion area.
>
> The rabbit come up to the fence, burrow down, find the wire and give up.
>
> They aren't bright enough to back off a couple of feet and try again.
>
> Andy

I am not making a rabbit proof fence, I am putting some bits of wood
around a sapling to discourage rabbits from chewing off the bark. If you
put a tube around the tree you don't bury it in the ground and it isn't
metal.

TW

On 13/10/2021 00:18, TimW wrote:
> If you put a tube around the tree you don't bury it in the ground and it
> isn't metal.

Mine are.

--
“Ideas are inherently conservative. They yield not to the attack of
other ideas but to the massive onslaught of circumstance"

- John K Galbraith

On Wed, 13 Oct 2021 00:18:13 +0100, TimW <timw@nothanks.com> wrote:

>On 12/10/2021 21:43, Vir Campestris wrote:
>> On 12/10/2021 19:28, TimW wrote:
>>> The normal advice is a cylinder of chicken wire is sufficient. Maybe
>>> the bark and sap is a tasty snack when it's easy to reach but not
>>> worth the bother of digging for. IDK. Rabbits know.
>>
>> You have unusually lazy rabbits.
>>
>> The advice I have heard is to bury the wire horizontally outside the
>> exclusion area.
>>
>> The rabbit come up to the fence, burrow down, find the wire and give up.
>>
>> They aren't bright enough to back off a couple of feet and try again.
>>
>> Andy
>
>
>I am not making a rabbit proof fence, I am putting some bits of wood
>around a sapling to discourage rabbits from chewing off the bark. If you
>put a tube around the tree you don't bury it in the ground and it isn't
>metal.
>
>TW

I'm not sure I understand your primary objective. Is it to stop
rabbits chewing the bark, in which case wire or small-mesh plastic
netting would be perfectly adequate, i.e. some sort of tree-sleeve, or
is your primary objective to have a fence that would look better than
a tree-sleeve and at the same time be rabbit proof?

I volunteer with a local woodland conservation group, and we plant
hundreds of 'whips' every year (rooted tree cuttings, say about 30cm
tall), each protected with one of several designs of tree-sleeve*. The
tree-sleeves are not buried but are sufficient to protect the whips
from rabbits.

* Almost any of these
https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/Tree-Guards/181032/bn_7023505428?_pgn=2

--
Chris

Gardening in West Cornwall, very mild, sheltered
from the West, but open to the North and East.

Vir Campestris wrote:

> TimW wrote:
>
>> The normal advice is a cylinder of chicken wire is sufficient. Maybe the bark
>> and sap is a tasty snack when it's easy to reach but not worth the bother of
>> digging for. IDK. Rabbits know.
>
> You have unusually lazy rabbits.

My rabbits don't seem to think of my saplings as food, they spend all their
effort digging holes near "nothing", I have plastic spiral rabbit protectors
around the saplings, but these allow the ants to pile soil/sand up inside the
protectors that hurts the lower leaves, I've cut the spirals in half, the
rabbits could likely reach above them if they wanted.

Vir Campestris <vir.campestris@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> On 12/10/2021 19:28, TimW wrote:
> > The normal advice is a cylinder of chicken wire is sufficient. Maybe the
> > bark and sap is a tasty snack when it's easy to reach but not worth the
> > bother of digging for. IDK. Rabbits know.
>
> You have unusually lazy rabbits.
>
> The advice I have heard is to bury the wire horizontally outside the
> exclusion area.
>
> The rabbit come up to the fence, burrow down, find the wire and give up.
>
> They aren't bright enough to back off a couple of feet and try again.
>
It's not a fence to prevent rabbits getting in, it's a protective tube
of something around the tree's trunk to prevent the rabbits from
chewing the bark.

--
Chris Green
·

TimW <timw@nothanks.com> wrote:
> If I was making a little fence arrangement of timber slats with gaps
> between them to keep rabbits out what would the maximum width of the gap
> need to be? I am thinking of keeping rabbits off a newly planted fruit
> tree. How close would the bits of wood need to be to each other?
>
I tied perforated plastic fence/netting round all the trees in our
orchard to keep the rabbits from chewing the bark, it's worked pretty
well over the 15 years or more since I did it.

--
Chris Green
·

TimW <timw@nothanks.com> wrote:
> On 12/10/2021 18:30, Jeff Layman wrote:
> > On 12/10/2021 17:11, TimW wrote:
> >> If I was making a little fence arrangement of timber slats with gaps
> >> between them to keep rabbits out what would the maximum width of the gap
> >> need to be? I am thinking of keeping rabbits off a newly planted fruit
> >> tree. How close would the bits of wood need to be to each other?
> >
> > No idea. What makes you think that they won't just burrow under the fence?
> >
>
> The normal advice is a cylinder of chicken wire is sufficient. Maybe the
> bark and sap is a tasty snack when it's easy to reach but not worth the
> bother of digging for. IDK. Rabbits know.
>
Yes, that would work, I used the plastic equivalent and that certainly
worked well. No need for it to be absolutely perfect, just keep most
of the bark intact.

--
Chris Green
·

On 13/10/2021 08:16, Andy Burns wrote:
> Vir Campestris wrote:
>
>> TimW wrote:
>>
>>> The normal advice is a cylinder of chicken wire is sufficient. Maybe
>>> the bark and sap is a tasty snack when it's easy to reach but not
>>> worth the bother of digging for. IDK. Rabbits know.
>>
>> You have unusually lazy rabbits.
>
> My rabbits don't seem to think of my saplings as food,

Unfortunately my deer do.

Grasses, shrubs, even roses...

--
No Apple devices were knowingly used in the preparation of this post.

On 13/10/2021 07:40, Chris Hogg wrote:
> On Wed, 13 Oct 2021 00:18:13 +0100, TimW <timw@nothanks.com> wrote:
>
>> On 12/10/2021 21:43, Vir Campestris wrote:
>>> On 12/10/2021 19:28, TimW wrote:
>>>> The normal advice is a cylinder of chicken wire is sufficient. Maybe
>>>> the bark and sap is a tasty snack when it's easy to reach but not
>>>> worth the bother of digging for. IDK. Rabbits know.
>>>
>>> You have unusually lazy rabbits.
>>>
>>> The advice I have heard is to bury the wire horizontally outside the
>>> exclusion area.
>>>
>>> The rabbit come up to the fence, burrow down, find the wire and give up.
>>>
>>> They aren't bright enough to back off a couple of feet and try again.
>>>
>>> Andy
>>
>>
>> I am not making a rabbit proof fence, I am putting some bits of wood
>> around a sapling to discourage rabbits from chewing off the bark. If you
>> put a tube around the tree you don't bury it in the ground and it isn't
>> metal.
>>
>> TW
>
> I'm not sure I understand your primary objective. Is it to stop
> rabbits chewing the bark, in which case wire or small-mesh plastic
> netting would be perfectly adequate, i.e. some sort of tree-sleeve, or
> is your primary objective to have a fence that would look better than
> a tree-sleeve and at the same time be rabbit proof?
>
> I volunteer with a local woodland conservation group, and we plant
> hundreds of 'whips' every year (rooted tree cuttings, say about 30cm
> tall), each protected with one of several designs of tree-sleeve*. The
> tree-sleeves are not buried but are sufficient to protect the whips
> from rabbits.
>
> * Almost any of these
> https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/Tree-Guards/181032/bn_7023505428?_pgn=2
>

Okay, I thought it was a simple question but of course nothing ever is.
i had better explain in detail.

I am planting a tree in the garden, a bare rooted fruit tree, a little
whippy sapling, at least I think so, it hasn't arrived and won't do for
a few weeks yet. I thought I would replace the stake and tube with a
prettier arrangement and make a little wooden structure to hold the tree
upright mainly but also to keep the dog off it and protect it from the
lawn mower and strimmer. That bit of the garden isn't exactly lawn and
is only partially rabbit proof. I don't need to worry about cattle or
deer - it isn't a field but I thought I might make sure my slats are
close enough together to prevent a rabbit from sticking his head through
and damaging the bark if indeed that's what rabbits do.

Standard rabbit proof mesh is 30mm holes. It seems small to me.

Tim W

On 13/10/2021 09:08, Chris Green wrote:
> Vir Campestris <vir.campestris@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>> On 12/10/2021 19:28, TimW wrote:
>>> The normal advice is a cylinder of chicken wire is sufficient. Maybe the
>>> bark and sap is a tasty snack when it's easy to reach but not worth the
>>> bother of digging for. IDK. Rabbits know.
>>
>> You have unusually lazy rabbits.
>>
>> The advice I have heard is to bury the wire horizontally outside the
>> exclusion area.
>>
>> The rabbit come up to the fence, burrow down, find the wire and give up.
>>
>> They aren't bright enough to back off a couple of feet and try again.
>>
> It's not a fence to prevent rabbits getting in, it's a protective tube
> of something around the tree's trunk to prevent the rabbits from
> chewing the bark.
>

Yes! that's what I need.
TW

In message <sk6m84$l2s$1@dont-email.me>, TimW <timw@nothanks.com> writes
>I am planting a tree in the garden, a bare rooted fruit tree, a little
>whippy sapling, at least I think so, it hasn't arrived and won't do for
>a few weeks yet. I thought I would replace the stake and tube with a
>prettier arrangement and make a little wooden structure to hold the
>tree upright mainly but also to keep the dog off it and protect it from
>the lawn mower and strimmer.

How about a standard plastic wrapper for the trunk itself, to protect
from rabbits, then an outer cordon of slats as you suggest, to make it a
little more attractive? That way, with the wrapper, the spacing of the
slats becomes less important.

--
Graeme

On 13/10/2021 17:16, Graeme wrote:
> In message <sk6m84$l2s$1@dont-email.me>, TimW <timw@nothanks.com> writes
>> I am planting a tree in the garden, a bare rooted fruit tree, a little
>> whippy sapling, at least I think so, it hasn't arrived and won't do
>> for a few weeks yet. I thought I would replace the stake and tube with
>> a prettier arrangement and make a little wooden structure to hold the
>> tree upright mainly but also to keep the dog off it and protect it
>> from the lawn mower and strimmer.
>
> How about a standard plastic wrapper for the trunk itself, to protect
> from rabbits, then an outer cordon of slats as you suggest, to make it a
> little more attractive?  That way, with the wrapper, the spacing of the
> slats becomes less important.
>

Yes, good plan.

TW