How to tighen wire around t-posts

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de103065

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I had some new live oak trees planted in my front yard that are surrounded by some wire mesh and then stabilized by some wire around the trunk and tied off at t-posts (see attached images). There was a pretty good storm and the wire that was supporting the tree broke and the tree was slightly blown over and now tilted. I need to straighten it back up and put some new wire around the trunk and tie it off to support the tree. What is the best way to tie off the wire and tighten it so it is secure. I have some t-post up around a raised bed that I ran wire around to try and keep deer out but the line just is not pulled tight enough to prevent the deer from pushing thru. I'm looking for the best way to tighten the wire and properly secure it to the t-posts. Any good you tube videos on how to do this? Thanks.
 

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The type of posts you have you just pound the posts in with the punched out tabs facing out and then you slip the wire of the fence into that tab slot and take a pair of channel lock pliers and bend the tab down to hold it.



Before you do that you can use the same posts to stabilize the tree. For a very nice tree like a live oak I would suggest 4 posts not two and then be very careful not to damage the bark. The method I like it to use a piece of soft garden hose and slip some bailing wire thru it and make a loop around the tree and then wire it across and to the post 4 times about 3’ off the ground. Be careful to not make it too tight around the trunk and inspect every year and get them off before the tree grows into them. a couple years and the tree will have rooted out where it wont need stabilized. You can leave the fence for the deer on longer.



When all else fails I resort to zip ties to attach stuff like this. Good quality zip ties will last a couple years outside.

Here is a photo I just took out the kitchen window of our crabapple tree I stabilized for wind 2 years ago. I just used old water pipe I had around and strips of an old bed sheet to tie it. As I didn’t have wire, posts or hose handy when the tree toppled over in a mini wind burst. I didn’t know if it would recover but it is ready to go full bloom right now. it is starting to feel stable so next year I will remove the posts or redo them. IMG_0239.jpg
 
Thanks for the replies and articles. It is helpful. One additional question I had is how to make the wire between the posts really tight. I have had a problem in the past of the wire not being stretched tight enough and ultimately the deer have pushed thru it. If I have two t-posts hammered into the ground and stretch the wire from post to post, how can I get it really tight so it prevents deer from pushing thru. I have multiple lines across the posts from top to bottom. I just need to get them stretched tight and not leave any slack.
 

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