All our neighbors try various methods, to no avail. I just let the moose eat them, and then I don't have to prune them...LOL

Deer away doesn't work, but a professional gardener i know uses tree guard, on here fruit trees. It says not to use it on food products, but she uses it on her trees (not berry bushes)just before they flower and again after she harvests and every couple of weeks during the winter. She also doesn't use it at full strength about 20-30% solution. So I will be trying that this year. Cheryl

If moose or deer are a problem, I don't think you have much choice other than a fence or a large aggressive dog not afraid of taking on these creatures, not that I'm recommending such, Along that line, I absolutely hate when people have mean dogs! My neighbours have loud aggressive dogs that jump at anything that moves! I had even been bitten when the people had come over and brought along their wolf pack of "Fangs", it was not a pretty scene when one had come up from behind me and taken a nip, totally unprovoked.

I intend to fence in my tree fruit growing area.

Cheryl, thanks for telling us about Tree Guard, will check it out ...

Terry

We only have deer on a regular basis here in our yard. I have seen only one moose in the last 14 years since we bought the acreage.

Here is the protection we put around each apple and plum trees.

At the end of the lane I have an 8' fence around all the garden area. Deer just skirt the area now and don't bother trying to get in.

I don't know if the moose would be so inclined to leave the fruit trees alone if there was a fence around them. You may have to fence a large area in and then place the fruit trees in the center.

Good luck!

Brenda

Wow...some nice fencing there!!

Game fencing wood be the cat's meow but at high expense.
I have regular moose visiting the orchard every year and so far I have been pretty suggesfull in
what I do, the little trees get a cheap farm fence loop around with a couple weight, [rock] on the bottom
to hold them down and I can easily move them around when it comes to cutting grass around the trunk.
When trees are large, the fence can be taken off.
I like to have my branches starting fairly high, so there will be less damage down the road when animals prune the trees.
This will take a couple more years to establish a tree, one has to keep pruning up a bit every year in the beginning.
Most pruning is done by deer and this is harmless on a large tree.
I don't have too much damage, considering I don't live there but I go out one's a week to re - load shot cap's, [another system], some kind of bubby trap, silk line, when a animal gets into this line, a pin get's pulled out on a post and a weight drops down and goes "BANG" so..animals don't stick around for long, I also keep them away in the veggie garden this way.
I love to have some animals visits my garden but.....

Here you see farm fence loop on some of the trees.
{{gwi:61633}}
..
Konrad

An aggressive dog won't scare moose. Neither do I. They seem to get through all but the highest and strongest fences. I had a moose hanging around this winter. My Great Pyrenees who fears nothing would bark for hours and be totally ignored. I shone my 3 million candle power light on him and he really didn't like it. He turned his back and walked away. A couple more nights and I never saw him again. Cruel? I don't know - maybe.

Moose will often hang around in people's yards all winter - no real predators and the snow cleared. They sometimes get aggressive with people. A couple years ago I had the most interesting pattern on my car - it was all tongue prints from moose licking the salt spray.

Another solution in Alberta and probably most of Canada - find a treaty Indian who likes moose but by Spring there's not much meat on the bones.

Here is a moose cow with two calves last summer at my neighbour.

Below.. a Moose Farm in Russia..

Here is a link that might be useful: Mooe Farm

Nice photos Brenda and Konrad :)

Granolabar, that's a good idea to try out the high intensity light. I guess it really depends on the dog or the moose, my brother's black lab would have both moose and deer hightailing it out of his yard. The only thing he learned best to leave be was the porcupines.

We have moose all the time (Alaska) and I found a product called Planskyyd sold by Lowe's (in USA) that absolutely keeps them away. Unfortunately it is expensive. Can get it up to 1 gallon to spray around the perimeter of plants or trees. It is made from wolf blood. Can also get wolf urine, but I think the other works better

The trick we use in TN is to get those small individual plastic bottles of sunny-d. Make a small slit in the top side of it just below the lid, take a strand of an old cotton mop for the wick, place it through the slit. Now the hard part buy a gal of the cheapest Ammomia that your local Dollar Store carries, fill it almost full and place them fifteen feet apart. Hang them on the fence or anything within the 15 feet with a peice of string and no more deer! It works everytime also works for racoons wild animals cannot stand the smell. Let the wick come out of the bottle about 2 inches and fill it up again when empty lasts about 2 weeks in summer a little longer in winter.Dont forget to put the lid back on! If you can put them on the east and west sides is better so the wind will be blowing to you fruit trees all the time!

Wow, kent t: I need to try that! We have a huge moose problem in Fairbanks, I just heard a story from my friend of how they kept their crab apples alive ultracheap: stacking used tires around it until it was big enough to fend for itself. If you stack the tires high enough, the moose can't see it and can't reach.

i think best is www.arbor-shield.com

Gets expensive and cumbersome getting into the tree for weeding / pruning etc.

The cheaper version with weight on the bottom I can move around...Deer & Moose Protection..not needed anymore when tall, all they do is helping you pruning trees lol. ..and, cleaning up the fallen apples!

My apple trees were a favourite snack for the local deer herd...until I installed wind chimes around them. They don't seem to like jostling the chimes, and now stay away from the trees. I wonder if that might work for moose?

Anything with sound will scare animals,...the louder the better I suppose, like my bangers! bangers scroll down.

.30-06 is effective. Requires that you catch Mr. Moose red handed. Saves on your grocery bills. Note: The Fish & Game people frown on this.

8 foot game fence comes is 330 foot rolls. 1 roll does 100 x 65 feet. You need 11 foot posts for it. One every 16 feet. You can put the posts further apart if you run a high tension steel wire at the top, and hang the fence off of that. Keeps the top from sagging.

If you have a tractor, rent a post pounder. That way you can set them much more quickly, and get a better set. Premark your locations to save rental time. Measure your posts and put a mark on them with spray paint so you get consistent depth. Do the corner ones first, run a chunk of baling twine from top to top. You will need to do the usual fence corner bracing. I think you can use a standard 7 foot post for this.

Co-op sometimes has sales on game fence amounting to about 20% off.

Note: Deer are slinky and will crawl under the fence. Rabbits will burrow under. 30" chicken wire attached 6-8" up the fence then down and flat will discourage this behaviour.

Hoof rats don't see worth spit. Flag the fence every few feet with stuff that flaps in the wind. Old grocery bags work well. Deer won't get through if the hit it, but Mr. Moose with a full head of steam can cruise through it.

Deer, in theory, can jump an 8 foot fence, but they are uncertain where the top is, so they won't try. Usually. They also won't jump if they can't see their landing point. You can use the game fence as a trellis for squash and cucumbers and the leftover stems will make life less certain for the hoof rats.