Planting Trees With Deer & Rodents In Mind

Mar 7, 2026

3 min read

Tree planting season is here and I am so excited! The late-winter into early-spring transition is one of my favorite times of year. The fact that I get to plant trees makes this season even better.

I’ve been watching buds slowly swelling on the apple and pear trees for weeks now. The hazel buds are following suit. Some trees are still fast asleep—It seems the vitex and jujubes are among some of the latest trees to wake up here, along with the wise the native oaks!

As a tree planter, I follow the crescendo of swelling buds and prioritizing those who wake up first. I want to get them in the moist soil before their growth really gets underway. If buds are swelling, I know new feeder roots have already started growing underground, albeit slowly at first.

Deer and rodents are both a huge consideration when I’m planting trees.

Are there deer or rodents where you live? Deer actively browse and forage through this landscape on the regular, if not daily. And this landscape supports numerous species of rodents, including gophers, voles, rabbits, squirrels, mice and more!

Our family prides ourselves on our decision not to deer fence the entire property. Not just because we saved a ton of money and labor. We feel the wildlife have a right to access the landscape, and that they deserve right of passage to travel freely en-route to riparian zones or nearby mountains, fields and wild spaces.

Humans aren’t the be-all end-all species, right?

And yet, we are tending fruit and nut trees—and these trees need protection from being eaten or damaged, especially while they are young and vulnerable. Some of our trees are planted inside our garden deer fence, but many more are outside.

I’ve spent the past decade researching and experimenting how to protect young trees from deer and rodents with small-scale, simple and budget friendly solutions. Instead of embracing a one size fit all solution, I’ve chosen to treat each species of tree as an individual.

Over the years, I’ve given deer monitored access to many of our fruit and nut trees. I’ve learned a lot about which trees the deer like eating most, and which they avoid. The truth is, like everything else in life, there’s a gradient.

This experience has been invaluable because I’ve learned where I need to draw a line in the sand with deer and rodents. How minimal can my tree’s deer protection be? Where do I need a firm boundary? How far can I push those limits?

Choosing to to grow fruit and nut trees more naturally has brought me a lot of joy. It’s given me a deeper respect, not only for the trees who I tend, but also for the wildlife who have a right to be here too.

We don’t have to wage a war or build fortresses to defend against wildlife—They are not the enemy forces. They are not simply “pests”. They are not the other. I know it in my heart. And still, I find it crucial to protect the trees I grow—because boundaries are important.

I don’t protect our trees absolutely, but I protect them enough.

I think that’s a beautiful motto for this stage of my life, at a time when I don’t want to be absolutely rigid about the way I perceive the world around me. I don’t want to live my whole life in a walled garden. I want to participate in this beautiful spiral dance with life.

Here’s to beauty, life, trees, deer and the toothy little critters we call rodents.

Happy tree planting friends!

Protect Fruit and Nut Trees from Deer and Rodents
Want to grow trees more naturally in the presence of deer? You don’t need to install a costly deer fence around your entire orchard or property. Protect your fruit and nut trees individually from deer. Fine tune deer protection based on your goals, habits of your local deer and any inherent deer resistant qualities within your trees. Allow deer and other wildlife safe passage through the land you steward.
See our course Protect Fruit and Nut Trees from Deer and Rodents for more details!