How to connect star pickets for tree staking?

[Happy_Learner]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a more secure way to stake verge trees after having wooden stakes stolen a few times. I'm planning to switch to star pickets (probably two per tree) and was thinking of connecting them with a couple of metal rods or bars to make them harder to remove and more stable overall.

I wonder what the best way is to connect two star pickets together securely? Are there brackets, clamps or other hardware you would recommend? Or if you have suggestions for a better methods altogether for protecting newly planted verge trees, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks in advance! 

[EricL]

Hello @Happy_Learner 

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's sensational to have you join us, and thanks for sharing your question about your star pickets. 

If you are using steel star pickets, I suggest using a Jack Fencing Accessory Lil Driver Post And Stake to bury the steak deep and prevent it from getting removed. Once the stake is deep enough, I suggest using Saxon 1.05 x 10m Graduated Dog Mesh to go around the tree and post. Use the Jack Red Netting Clip Pliers to attach the mesh to the predrilled holes in the star picket. This will give you a semi-permanent fitting which can't be easily removed. 

The Jack Fencing Accessory Lil Driver Post And Stake has a short instructional video on the product page. I suggest having a good look to see how the stake is attached.

Let me call on our experienced members @Dave-1 and @Noyade for their recommendations.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

[Dave-1]

Good afternoon @Happy_Learner 

What a pain, "shaking my head" I never understand people.

Star posts for sure, 3 of them and then the metal fencing that @EricL has suggested would work well. It takes it past something that can be an opportunity to something more of a structure and hopefully that will deter them enough. I dont like the idea of a strong connection between the posts as wind buffeting the trees, branches and trunks then bending against something flexible is a better choice then a ridgid structure.

As a side note, For my verge tree I ended up bending an offcut of the old school cyclone mesh in a triangle shape (open join) to stop the local cockatoos from ringbarking it.

Dave

[Happy_Learner]

These are great ideas. Thank you very much, @EricL and @Dave-1!