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A tree shelter, tree guard or tree tube (sometimes also Tuley tube) is a structure that protects planted
A tree shelter, tree guard or tree tube (sometimes also Tuley tube) is a structure that protects planted tree
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...
sapling
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are us ...
s from browsing
Browsing is a kind of orienting strategy. It is supposed to identify something of relevance for the browsing organism. When used about human beings it is a metaphor taken from the animal kingdom. It is used, for example, about people browsing o ...
animals and other dangers as the trees grow.
The purpose of tree shelters is to protect young trees from browsing by herbivores by forming a physical barrier along with providing a barrier to chemical spray applications. Additionally, tree tubes accelerate growth by providing a mini-greenhouse environment that reduces moisture stress, channels growth into the main stem and roots and allows efficient control of weeds that can rob young seedlings of soil moisture and sunlight. Young trees protected in this way have a survival rate of around 85%, but without a tree guard only about half of all planted trees grow to adulthood.
Wrought iron, wire and wooden tree guards were used in Victorian England since the 1820s, but not always because of their cost. Plastic tube tree shelters were invented in Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...
in 1979 by Graham Tuley. They are particularly popular in the UK in landscape-scale planting schemes and their use has been established in the United States since 2000. About 1 million shelters were in use in the United Kingdom in 1983–1984, and 10 million were produced in 1991.Potter 1991
Many variations of tree shelters exist. There is considerable debate among tree shelter manufacturers as to the ideal colour, size, shape and texture for optimal plant growth. One style used in northern climates of North America has a height of 5 feet to offer the best protection from deer browse, with vent holes in the upper portion of the tube to allow for hardening off of hardwood trees going into the winter months and no vent holes in the lower portion to shield seedlings from herbicide spray and rodent damage.
The use of plastic tube tree shelters leads to the contamination of the environment with microplastics
Microplastics are fragments of any type of plastic less than in length, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the European Chemicals Agency. They cause pollution by entering natural ecosystems from a v ...
as the tubes, which are normally not collected, degrade over time. Alternatives include wooden or metal fencing to keep animals out.
References
* * Potter, M. J. (1991) ''Treeshelters - Forestry Commission Handbook 7''HMSO
The Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is the body responsible for the operation of His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) and of other public information services of the United Kingdom. The OPSI is part of the National Archives of the U ...
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External links
{{- Forestry tools Habitat management equipment and methods Reforestation Scottish inventions Plastics applications