Nails in Trees? (1 Viewer)

[Johnny Angell]

I've got one of the squirrel feeders that looks like it needs to be attached to a tree via a nail. Is this safe to do, for the tree's sake? Should I use a special nail, say stainless steel (assuming they make that kind of nail)?

 

[MarkHastings]

I don't have any real advice, just experience. We've always nailed things to tress and never had problems. At my grandmothers (when I was a kid) we'd nail the dart board to her old tree every summer and it didn't do anything to it.

My dad also nailed one of those tree faces to his tree and it hasn't done anything bad.

The way I see it is, if you can build a deck and a house by putting nails into wood, it shouldn't make a whole lot of difference by putting them in a tree.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Well, yes it could make a difference. When using lumber, you are using parts of a dead tree and don't have to worry about killing it.

I don't want to kill my living trees in my backyard. Your experience does indicate its ok to put a nail in a tree.

 

[DougR]

You should be Ok putting a few nails in the tree. It will Heal over time.

 

[Jay Taylor]

If it’s a small “Charlie Brown Christmas” type of tree it might make a difference but a medium to large sized tree probably not.

The previous owner of the last home I owned had a barbed wire fence attached to several medium sized oak trees. As the oak trees grew over the decades they completely engulfed the barbed wire & staples. Now there’s old wire sticking out of the sides of these trees yet they appear to be quite healthy.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Trees can tolerate a lot. I'm feeling better about putting up this feeder.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

It's fine think of all the bird houses out there that don't hang from wires... those trees survive.
We have an old maple in our backyard that's been there as far back as the people that built the house. This is 3-4 generations of sticking stuff in and around this tree. The tree actually grew around a wire put in place by a previous owner for a dog leach. the same thing happened with a bird house that hangs from a wire; the bark has now grown over the wire.
Finally, there's a bird house or two that's just nailed onto the tree.
And it survives.

 

[Ron-P]

As long as there not copper nails you're fine.

 

[Malcolm R]

I'm still trying to figure out why anyone would want to FEED squirrels, destructive rodents that they are.

But yes, the tree should be fine.

 

[DougR]

But their so Funny to watch !!

 

[MarkHastings]

LOL - I just watched Rat Race last night and if you've seen that movie, you'd know what type of people do.

Oh, Sorry Johhny, I didn't mean to imply you. Please don't send me off a cliff.

 

[Henry Gale]

For over 20 years people have been "spiking" trees with nails, very large nails in most cases.
This has caused no harm to the trees and is actually done in an attempt to protect them.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Some see them as pests and some done. We're in the latter camp. We've never had a problem with squirrels destroying things, except for the squirrel feeders themselves. Those do get chewed up.

 

[MarkHastings]

Yeah, it's always best to give them food and make them happy.

 

[Malcolm R]

Do you feed your rats and mice, too?

 

[MarkHastings]

When I was younger, my parents house was in a remote location with a LOT of woods around...we used to throw our leftovers out into the woods. This usually kept the rats and mice out of the house because they had no reason to go indoors to look for food.

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

Yes and instead they are used to cause massive injury to legal loggers cutting said trees down or if they are lucky, just ruining their equipment. 'Spiking' has absolutely nothing to do with actually making a tree healthy.

 

[Greg*go]

Even in what you quoted, he didn't say it made the tree healthy, he said it protected the tree. Which IS TRUE for the tree. The person trying to cut it down however...

 

[Johnny Angell]

OK, I was just trying to find out if I could nail a squirrel feeder to a tree. I wasn't asking for comments on whether squirrels are pests or whether I would be making a political statement.

Note to moderators: the ban against politics is obviously creating some built-up tension

 

[David McGough]

My son use to fire a 38 into a tree target practice. It has about 8 shots in it.
I told him to hold up. That was 7 years ago, the tree is now about 40' and growing.