More Trees and Bushes for Bowhunters and What to
Prune
More Pruning Fruit Trees for Wildlife
 Editor’s
Note: Mark Schichtel of Schichtel’s Nursery in
Springville, New York, has been planting, growing, and
shipping fruit and nut trees all over the nation since
the late 60s. Schichtel’s Nursery plants 130,000
trees each year and many of their trees are bought by
hunters to plant for wildlife. Today, Schichtel will
share his tips for pruning fruit tre es
to attract wildlife.
The Schichtels sell their trees to garden centers across
the nation, and Schichtel says that a fruit tree will
begin to bear fruit in from three to four years. They
don’t produce food for wildlife as quickly as
planting a green field will. However, they can produce
a crop every year, sometimes for as long as 50 to 80
years, depending on the type tree you buy to plant,
making them very valuable. To protect your investment
in your fruit and nut trees, Schichtel recommends putting
PVC pipe or some type of plastic wrap around the tree
trunk in the fall to keep the deer from rubbing their
antlers against the trees and possibly killing the young
trees. “We attach plastic wrap with a staple gun,”
Shcichtel says. “Then we take the plastic wrap
off during the spring of the year so the birds can pick-off
any insects from the trees and eat them. Too, the plastic
wrap keeps the bucks from damaging the trees. Without
the PVC pipe or the plastic wrap around the trees, the
bucks can cause serious damage. Once your trees are
about 4 or 5 inches in diameter, you don’t have
to wrap them with plastic wrap every year. Even if deer
rub against the tree, they usually won’t girdle
it (rub off all the bark all the way around the tree)
and kill the tree.”
Schichtel says that you should always cut off dead
branches because they attract bugs and other pests that
can damage your trees. When dead branches fall off,
they usually break or tear loose
from the live tree and put scars on the tree that are
much worse than when you cut off that  branch.
Also, if you cut the branch off, the tree reacts by
putting buds on that have been lying dormant around
that spot that will fill in that spot and create more
branches. “Although you can’t get immediate
results from fruit trees that you can from planting
small-grain food plots, you can get a much longer-lasting
food source that requires much-less maintenance and
cost when you plant fruit and nut trees,” Schichtel
advises. “For best results, always plant your
fruit and nut trees where they will get about 75% sunlight,
and remove other competing trees from around them. Field
edges, pastures, abandoned fields, and old log yards
are great places to plant fruit and nut trees.”
To learn more about planting trees for deer, call 716-592-9383,
or write to Mark Schichtel at Schichtel’s Nursery,
7420 Peters Road, Springville, NY 14141
Check out this important information:
http://www.nighthawkpublications.com/freetips/charts/deerfeed.htm
http://www.nighthawkpublications.com/freetips/charts/zonemap.htm
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