Yes, rabbits and deer might have been what had nipped at your plants. Good on you attempting the tulip poplar and American beech, both of which just might have a chance.

I’m guessing they only ate them because they still had green goodies in them. My beech I scratched and it’s green still and buds appearing large. I can’t tell from my two tulip poplar yet. Didn’t scratch as they are too skinny and I don’t wanna break em. Minneapolis has some huge tulip poplar so they may work.

I already am blown away that I have a river birch on its 4th year budding out, red oak, weeping willow, crimson sunset maple and prairie splendour maple. All of which weren’t recommended by the prairie tree trials and my climate is colder than all the test sites. Why not try? My Katsura seems to be in good shape too. Still coloured on the inside and buds look very bright and alive.

I’m in a small town and there are so many coyotes that I’m assuming they are keeping the rabbit population down. I also have many cats going through my yard. I doubt it’s a deer as I have 65 cedars and they haven taken a bite of one or my neighbors...the coyote in my yard was eating my crabapples so maybe he was so hungry that he ate the little plants too.

Yes, could be just about any creature passing through that decided to take a nip at your seedlings, including coyotes. I had little damage done this winter, other than a columnar pine that I neglected to wrap and deer had chewed, next winter the tree again gets provided with protection!

Yes, good on you for attempting many different species. Sometimes, they outright prove sufficiently hardy or endure die back, though continue to gain in size over the years. A friend has a buddy in Mill Woods with a few weeping mulberries tucked in a protected spot next to his house and these having produced fruit. I'd like to get my hands on the 'Montreal Hardy' or whatever it's called, though only from a reputable retailer.

My vote is for Rabbits... do most of their damage when we're asleep at night.

Damn rabbits. They must be hiding. I haven’t seen one in four years but seen tons of coyotes.

Last winter I had horrible Rabbit damage, caught 13 or so...the very first time in about 20 years.