Yes
Use them as fence posts! Remember that the trees you choose for fence posts should not shade the crop too much, should add nitrogen to the soil and should grow easily from branches taken from a fully grown tree. Fruit trees in pasture. Now an idea about tree planting for farmers who have pasture for grazing animals. Making use of dead or dying trees-from firewood to your own lumber. Firewood, fence posts, sawlogs, to a garden bench are examples of wood products that can come from woodlots of any size, including your backyard. Wood Chips/Mulch. Branches can be chipped by the homeowner or by a local tree service with a chipper. Chips can be used in your own gardens and give a new trees a fresh start.  Junipers are tough, resilient trees that make excellent fence posts, either whole or split. You do not need to treat or debark the posts. As to how long they will last, that depends on how moist the soil conditions are and the amount of freezing and thawing the posts will endure over their lifetime.  Regarding air drying black locust fence posts, keep in mind that the longer a locust post dries, the more difficult it is to drive a nail or fence staple into it. From contributor D: That bit about driving staples into hard locust is very true. Use the shortest fence staple you can get - 3/4''-1 work best. Also, putting a pole in the ground with the bottom of the tree in the bottom of the hole makes it last longer and sawn posts last longer than split posts, but 3-5 rounds last longest.  When the trees have grown high and big enough to be good fence posts, remove the fence posts and attach the wires of the fence to the trees. You can staple or nail the wires to the tree – it doesn’t hurt the tree. The wood is soft and the tree will not be damaged. Remember that the trees you choose for fence posts should not shade the crop too much, should add nitrogen to the soil and should grow easily from branches taken from a fully grown tree. Fruit trees in pasture. Now an idea about tree planting for farmers who have pasture for grazing animals. Western red cedar makes long-lasting fence posts. Some wood species are better than others for making sturdy fences and western red cedar is one of the best. Its heartwood contains oils that repel insects and resist rot and cedar fence posts can last 15 to 20 years or more. When setting them in holes, you have to strip off the white sapwood, because it isn't as rot-resistant as the heartwood and deteriorates underground, leaving the posts loose. Using Trees as Posts. Trees make the best supports for deer fencing, because they are both strong and natural. When you set up a deer control fence you want to keep things looking as natural as possible, so that the deer fencing fades into near-invisibility for both deer and people. Trees are admirably suited to this purpose, and if the deer control fence zig-zags a bit as it goes from tree to tree, so much the better. Polypropylene deer fencing, which is light, can run as much as 30 feet (in extreme cases) from one tree to the next with no intermediate support, though 20 feet is the distance recommended. Our metal hexagrid deer fencing is heavier than polypropylene fencing and needs to be supported every 15 feet. Overview. Cedar posts have been used as fence posts for centuries. Cedar is resistant to rot and therefore makes it a good material for anything built outside. If you are cutting down your own cedar trees for use as posts, keep in mind that you will need to let them cure, or dry, for at least a year before use. You will also need basic tree felling knowledge before attempting to accomplish this task. Hi! Yes you can! We use small pine trees as fence posts around our property. You have to skin the bark off and let them dry really good first. Then you can paint them with a solution that you can get from your local hardware store, I forget the name, but I know Behr makes it. I have lots of small pines around the property (10 ft and up). I would like to cut some of them down and use them as fence post. Anyone have a way to keep the ants from moving into them, or even preserving the trees from simply decaying. Distances between Posts. As a general rule, posts should be spaced 20 feet apart to support polypropylene deer fencing and 15 feet apart to support metal hexagrid deer fencing. There are exceptions (as when trees are being used as posts, see below), and the distances involved should not be regarded as iron-clad. For instance, if a side of your metal hexagrid fence is 32 feet long, use 1 post in the middle rather than two unless you anticipate severe strains on the fence. Polypropylene deer fencing, which is light, can run as much as 30 feet (in extreme cases) from one tree to the next with no intermediate support, though 20 feet is the distance recommended. Our metal hexagrid deer fencing is heavier than polypropylene fencing and needs to be supported every 15 feet.
http://www.farmradio.org/radio-resource-packs/package-25/make-the-most-of-trees-trees-as-fenceposts-and-trees-in-pasture/ http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/treecare/maintenance/products.html http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/how-long-will-cedar-fence-posts-last.aspx http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Black_Locust_Fence_Post_Advice.html http://www.farmradio.org/radio-resource-packs/package-25/make-the-most-of-trees-trees-as-fenceposts-and-trees-in-pasture/ http://homeguides.sfgate.com/use-red-cedar-fence-posts-51170.html http://www.invisible-deer-fence.com/installation/posts/trees.htm http://www.gardenguides.com/101833-cutting-cedar-trees-use-fence-posts.html http://community.ebay.com/t5/Archive-Country-Rural-Style/using-small-trees-as-fence-post/td-p/1679473 http://www.invisible-deer-fence.com/installation/posts/trees.htm
can you use trees as fence posts