How to Protect Young Sugar Maple Tree Seedlings

Sugar maple trees provide sap for making syrup in late winter and shade for the yard in the summer. To protect your seedlings from the weather and animals, you need to mulch the trees and guard their trunks. The supplies to do so can be purchased at your local garden center.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Mulch
• Plastic tree guard

1. Add at least 3 to 4 inches of mulch around the tree seedling, but keep the mulch at least 2 inches away from the base of the tree. Packing the mulch against the trunk can promote damage and disease.

2. Put the plastic tree guard around the trunk of your tree. This will prevent your tree from being chewed by animals or suffering wind damage.

3. Regularly check your seedling to make sure it is growing properly, and that the tree guard has not shifted. If it has, put it back into place.

4. If your tree is not set straight in the ground or it is wobbly, you can anchor it with a kit that can be found at your local garden center. You can also attach rubber ties to the tree and anchor them to the ground. Be sure to remove the supports after your tree has grown steadier--this will usually happen within a year.

5. Never tie up your tree with wire ties. The wire can damage the trunk of your seedling and cause it to grow improperly.

References

• Plant the Right Way
• Rigid Seedling Protection Tubes