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It is difficult to find a person who would not like juicy, fragrant, bulk apples. But in order to be able to enjoy your favorite fruits in winter, in the fall you will have to try to protect fruit trees from their most insidious enemies – rodents. The main danger for the apple tree in the winter months are hares and mice. They can not only harm the plant, but in some cases provoke its death.
Who can harm
The end of autumn and the beginning of winter is one of the most important periods in the life of every gardener: you have to not only protect apple trees from impending frosts, but also save trees from systematic raids of rodents starving in winter. It is necessary to protect apple trees from mice and similar small animals, since they, nibbling the bark of a tree directly above the snowy edge, leave the trunk bare and absolutely vulnerable to cold weather. In addition, we all know that the bark of a tree is a natural conductor of moisture and nutrients, so the violation of the upper cover of the trunk can lead to the death of the tree. Even more significant is the fact that pests prefer young seedlings and young apple trees, which need protection the most.
The period of greatest activity of rodents falls in February – early March: by the end of winter, hares and mice have practically no other food options, except for the bark of fruit trees. They especially love the apple tree and almost never touch apricots, plums or cherries: the fact is that the bark of stone fruit trees is somewhat bitter.
Video “How to save”
From the video you will learn how you can protect the apple tree from pests – rodents and hares.
Ways to protect
Over the years, our gardeners have become quite adept at such a difficult task as protecting an apple orchard from rodents. Let’s look at the most common of them.
mechanical
One of the widely used options that allow you to effectively protect an apple tree is that before winter you just need to wrap its trunk with a metal mesh with a small mesh. This option effectively protects apple trees from attacks not only by fairly large hares, but also from ordinary and field mice. As a protective material, you can use whatever you like best: some use roofing material, burlap, or even film. 
But the metal mesh still remains the most suitable option – it is not possible for rodents to gnaw through it, and it passes air and light, respectively, the development of the fungal process does not threaten the cortex.
Smell repellent
Some gardeners highly recommend the use of these strong-smelling products to protect fruit trees from rodents. As such a “hellish” mixture, you can use the following composition: 3 kg of laundry soap, 300 g of naphthalene, 2 liters of any vegetable oil and 0,5 liters of turpentine.
All this “cocktail” must be thoroughly mixed in 10 liters of water, and the trunks should be thoroughly coated with the resulting solution. Agree, even for gluttonous and hungry mice, such a “dish” is hardly suitable.
Spraying
So that in winter not a single rodent or other uninvited guest comes close to your garden, treat the trunks of fruit trees with a solution of copper sulphate – mice really don’t like this substance (by the way, at the same time you can prevent the development of fungal infections on the surface of the trunk).
The solution is prepared simply: for every 10 liters of water, you need to take 100 g of powder. They spray the garden in November, choosing a quiet and fine day without precipitation, trying not to spare the remedy: about 2 liters of liquid should be spent on each young seedling, and spray at least 10 liters on adult fruit-bearing trees each.
Already in winter, with the arrival of the first frosts, you can spray apple trees with a weak one percent solution of Bordeaux mixture – for rodents, its smell is disgusting, and for insect pests it is completely destructive. It is also better to treat the garden with this solution on a day when there is no wind and rain, otherwise such treatment will not bring any effect.
Poison
And finally, radical measures that involve not just scaring away, but the physical destruction of rodents. Today, specialized stores offer a wide selection of such drugs, one of them is Ratobor. 
The tool is produced in the form of solid briquettes, it is effectively used both indoors and in winter in open spaces – in gardens, vegetable gardens and household plots. When preparing such baits, be sure to take into account the taste preferences of your enemies and place the “treat” in places where the pest has free access, as well as in such a way that you yourself have access to it.
Prevention
In order to prevent the appearance of small enemies in your backyard, try to follow all the rules of agricultural technology: remove all the garbage left on the beds or under the trees in time – tops, fallen leaves, pieces of bark, etc. 
All this is an attractive bait for small animals, and also contributes to their reproduction. Another favorite place for all rodents is warm haystacks or straw, try not to place them near fruit trees. And you can try to settle in a family of hedgehogs, or, at worst, get an ordinary cat – these animals are the original enemies for gnawing animals, so the last way to your garden will be ordered. Mice do not like the smell of kerosene – try scattering sawdust soaked in this product in the garden, uninvited guests are unlikely to visit it.
And if not mice, but hares found their way to your apple trees, try to play on their shyness: you can hang rustling plastic bags or empty cans on the branches of trees, which will make sharp sounds at the slightest breath of wind. Knowing the wildness of this beast, he will run away at the slightest hint of a sharp rattle or even a simple rustle.
And finally, try to regularly compact the snow around the apple trunks: this, of course, will not protect against hares, but the mice that usually move under the snow cover will not be able to break through the layer of dense, trampled snow. Why not an option?
A rare lucky gardener is not familiar with the problems that rodents can cause to fruit trees over a long winter. Be sure to try to take maximum preventive measures, because everyone knows that preventing a problem is much easier than overcoming it. But if you have rodents, our recommendations will help overcome this scourge and keep your garden intact until next spring. And there, small enemies are not at all scary: with the advent of heat, they find food in various places and will not encroach on your apple trees.
Video “Treatment”
From the video you will learn how to cure an apple tree after meeting with rodents.
