Trees and plants not to have in pens

I heard you don't want to have red oak trees in the pens and I heard of one other tree you don't want to have. Does anyone know of any plants not to have in pens? Someone has told me walnut trees but I never heard that

My pen is full of red oaks. In 7 years I have had no problems. What problems do the red oaks cause?

I cant see why red oaks would be a problem I would think they would be a plus. Walnut roots produce juglone which is toxic to some plant's and I have heard to some insect's as well. I had them in my pasture and the cattle would always lay under the walnut trees.

I have walnut trees in my pens and feed red oak leaves in the early fall when we trim trees in the yard...............I think that's an old wives tail !

Red oaks and walnut trees are fine........not bothering my deer and they have walnut trees lining the one entire side of thier pen.....

My mistake I know it was red something maybe red maple? A vet was talking about it at one of the pa meetings. But that's why I made this posts to see what plants are defiantly a no in the pens

Here is a list of plants that are poisonous that are commonly in peoples gardens. I know there are plenty of weeds that are not good for deer. I am unsure of there names however.



Poisonous Plants



Amaryllis (Hippeastrum spp.)

Anemone (Anemone spp.)

Azalea (Rhododendron spp.)

Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)

Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia)

Buckeye (Aesculus hippocastanum)

Buckthorn (Rhamnus carthartica)

Caladium (Caladium spp.)

Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

Castor Bean (Ricinus communis)

Crown of Thorns (Euphorbia milli)

Daffodil (Narcissus spp.)

Delphinium (Delphinium spp.)

Dumbcane (Dieffenbachia spp.)

English Ivy (Hedera helix)

Foxglove (Digitalis spp.)

Lily of the Valley (Convalleria majalis)

Madagascar Periwinkle (Vinca rosea)

Moon Trumpet, Jimson Weed (Datura spp.)

Monkshood (Aconitum nepallus)

Peony (Paeonia officinalis)

Philodendron (Philodendron spp.)

Rhubarb leaves (Rheum rhaponticum)

Snowball Hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens)

Sweet Pea (Lathyrus odoratus)

Tomato leaves (Lycopersicon esculentum)

Yew (Taxus spp.)





-Johnny B

I've been told that leaves from cherry trees will kill goats, not sure about deer, but wouldn't take the chance.

I know a guy that had cherry trees for two yeArs and all was ok but now he cut them all down

Ted Summers had a big cherry tree that fell in one of his pens years ago.He lost 4 deer in two days. He said they loaded up on alot leaves.

We have several hundred cherry trees in our pens and are in our 13th. year of deer farming and have never suffeered a loss to cherry leaves. Cherry leaves are toxic when they die from losing a branch or an entire tree. When they begin to shrivel up is when they become mildly toxic. When we lose a tree or large branch, we let them eat the leaves for 24-36 hours then remove the rest before the leaves shrivel. In the fall when they begin falling from the trees, they do not become toxic.

Steve they must of die from something else,I was just going on what Ted told me.

Steve, they may well have died from the cherry leaves if the tree was left in the pen after the leaves shriveled. They probably gorged on them and got enough poison in their system to kill them. We always remove dead trees and large branches before they wilt so that the deer can't gorge on them.

That makes sense

i had cherry trees in our pens for our first 2 years with no issue. i have heard the same thing that stevel stated that the leaves are mildly toxic when they shrivel.



we decided to cut the trees down this october to protect our investment from having limbs/trees fall on them or the fence

If a branch is broke off in a storm lets say the leaves produce prussic acid for I,ve heard about 5 days. If deer eat these leaves during that prussic acid stage they are poisinous. After that period they become less and less toxic. We have a couple of big choke cherries in our pens and the first thing I check after a storm or heavy winds is my cherry trees. We have many red oaks and a few walnuts in our pens and have not seen a problrm with the deer eating the leaves. Rick