Geese and evergreen trees

[larkflying]

We have our geese in our orchard now, to keep the grass down. My they are excellent at that! But, they also nibble on the lower branches of the apple trees, and have pulled off leaves -- not a big issue as the trees are way bigger than they are. We also have a field of Christmas trees - they are little - most of them are 4 ft high or less. We'd love to fence the geese into there for a few days to eat down the grass around the trees, but I'm thinking they would also eat the new growth. Does anyone know if they would do this? Originally, our books said that geese were mainly grass eaters, but after seeing them nibble the apple trees, I wonder . . . There's plenty of tall hay grasses in the pasture for them to nibble on, it wouldn't be like they'd have a shortage of interesting food . . . There are two Toulouse and 7 American Buff geese.

 

[Yetti]

Dunno about your trees but I have Austrian pine, blue spruce and Norway spruce they seem to leave them alone. they have so much other stuff to chew on the trees don't seem to matter. the do love my wife's Hosta's. they eat them like candy. now come winter time the trees might be more on the meal list as grass becomes scarce.

 

[Denninmi]

I suspect that they would leave evergreens alone unless they were truly starving. I know deer will browse certain evergreens, mainly arborvitae and yews, but most things (except for certain insects) leave spruces, firs, and pines alone overall.

 

[larkflying]

Yes, I was thinking that evergreen might be too strong for them -- the trees are spruce and fir. I guess next week I'll give it a try with just a few of the trees and see how it goes. There's so much grass and weeds I can't imagine that they would have a shortage . . .

 

[goosedragon]

Your firs are probably safe but mine loved the tender new growth on the spruce tips. These have grown out by now?

 

[larkflying]

Hmm . . . that is good to know about the spruce . . . I will have to double check what we have -- I think it is mostly firs, but it is possible they planted some blue spruce as well. The tips have grown out and they are in the bright green stage -- however, I'm not planning on putting them in there for a few more weeks, so it is possible by the end of July they will be less yummy altogether. And it is possible that my geese will be ornery and decide that they LOVE fir . . . When I do try it out I'm only going to do part of the field just to see . . .