How to Make a DIY Tree Guard for Fruit Trees

Learning to combat Pests of all kinds is an essential skill to have when you live on a homestead. We battle foxes and coyotes, bugs, rodents, weasels, and birds on a daily basis. We have to take them into consideration with every building project and gardening endeavor. (And, don’t get me wrong, I know these creatures also have very useful qualities and are an essential part of our world. It just doesn’t mean that I prefer to have weasels in my chicken coop or potato beetles in my garden). But, out of all of these pests, the most challenging may be the Field Mice or Voles. They can completely destroy a root crop garden in a matter of a couple days, or girdle a small orchard overnight. They can travel and eat both above ground and below. And, they are active during all seasons of the year. Over the years, we have found various ways of combating them. One of these is to make a DIY Tree Guard for the Fruit Trees in our orchard.

Pin this for Later!

base of a DIY drainage pipe tree guard for fruit trees with fresh dirt around the bottom

What Do Field Mice/Voles Actually Do to a Tree?

Field mice and Voles love to strip and eat the bark off of Fruit Trees. This is called Girdling, and will ultimately kill the tree. Removal of the bark includes removing a layer called the Cambium. The tree uses this layer to move water and nutrients, and without it, it cannot survive.

Girdling can happen during the spring, summer, and fall months. But is much more likely to happen during the winter months when food is scarcer for these critters.

Materials and Tools for the DIY Tree Guard for Fruit Trees

Making the DIY Tree Guard for Your Fruit Trees

Using a sharp Utility Knife and Tape Measure, cut the Drainage Pipe into 24 inch sections. You will need one section for each tree that you are trying to protect.
- Put the blade into one of the grooves in the Drainage Pipe and cut around the pipe following that groove. This will help prevent your knife from slipping, and will keep your edge neat and even.

measuring tape being used to measure plastic drainage pipe with grass in the background

Next, using a Circular Saw, cut a slit lengthwise down the whole 2 foot piece of Drainage Pipe.
- You can also do this with your utility knife, but it is not as easy and the cut will not be as clean and even.

man in the grass cutting plastic drainage pipe with a circular saw next to a red four wheeler

Installing a DIY Tree Guard on Your Fruit Trees

Prepare the tree by using sharp pruning shears to prune off any limbs that are low enough to touch the plastic guard.
Then, starting at one end or the other, use your fingers to pry open the tree guard and slip it around the tree.
Squeeze the edges back together to make sure that no little critter can crawl between the edges.

DIY tree guard for fruit trees with grass in the background

Next, get several shovel-fulls of dirt (we just grab some loam/sand mix from our nearby garden). Use the soil to bury the bottom edge of the DIY tree guard. Stamp the dirt until it is packed down. This prevents anything from being able to life the guard up and go underneath it.

Future Maintenance for your Tree Guards

These tree guards should not be left on the trees from April to October. So, remove them carefully (to avoid scraping the bark), and store them during the summer months. Otherwise, the dark and protected habitat can invite other pests (like Borers).
After several years, if the plastic starts to get a little stretched out, and the edges no longer touch. Then, use a zip tie at each end to hold it firmly together.

Some Important Notes on Orchard Maintenance

So, as you can tell by the two photos above, we did not keep up with our orchard maintenance very well this year. We had some other big projects on our plate, and the orchard did not end up being a priority like it usually is. So, during the last 2 months, it was only mowed one time. That is bad news for an orchard. It invites disease and pests, including mice and voles who like the cover that long grass provides.

Because of our neglect, we actually lost a couple of our new trees to girdling in September – before the normal time to put tree guards on. Not only is that an expensive mistake, but we lost of year of growth for those varieties. We will have to replant them in the spring and start over.

Tips for Keeping Your Orchard in an Anti-Mouse/Vole Manner:

Keep Your Orchard mowed on a very regular basis.
Spread wood chips around the base of your trees in the summertime to add an extra barrier. Try to avoid using hay or straw for mulching since voles and mice like to nest in it.
Encourage the presence of hawks on your property.
If you live in an area where it snows on a regular basis, you can stamp the snow down around the base of your trees after each storm. This helps prevent mice and voles from traveling under the snow to eat the trees.
I have not tried this myself, but some people suggest planting Daffodils in a circle about 18 inches away from the base of the tree. Apparently Voles are not a fan of Daffodils.

Orchards can definitely be high maintenance, but they are worth the time and the wait!

Let me know what your favorite apple variety is in the comments below.

DIY Tree Guard for Fruit Trees Pinterest Pinnable

YouTube Video for DIY Tree Guards for Fruit Trees

Shop this Post

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain our own. As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please see my full disclosure here.