This is a tutorial on how to make tree rings for your trees at a fraction of the cost of buying them from the store.
Did you just plant several new trees? Remember how fast grass can grow by trees that needs to be cut? Weed whacking next to a young tree can be dangerous for the tree, especially if you cut the bark.
Materials:
Felt marker
Scissors
Any kind of heavier rubbery material
You can pick almost any kind of heavy material that grass can not grow through to be your base. Just go for a walk through a store and look at various items. You can use a rug with a heavy rubber backing, those interlocking foam pieces, and many other materials.
Without proper care grass and weeds can choke out small plants or trees. It also looks ugly.
I looked at a heavy rubber backed rug, but since I had planted 20 small trees I decided to go with a package of 4 interlocking rubber mats as I needed a lot of rings and they gave me the most rings for my money.
Look at the size of your material and how big of a ring you want around your tree. Ensure you have enough material. Find a round object to trace out the ring. Use the felt marker on the back, so it leaves the good side undamaged. (See how I did it above.)
Cut out your rings. I find scissors worked quite easily. Cut a line to the middle of the ring to allow the ring to fit around the tree and then cut out a hole for the base of the tree. Ensure the hole is at least four times as large as the base is currently. For some reason trees seem to think that they want to grow...
I tried to cut the hole with an exacto blade which looked terrible, and then tried to fix it with scissors. Didn't look the greatest either.
I was unsatisfied with the hole that I had, so just out of curiosity I tried to use a hole saw bit. It worked surprising well and gave me the result I was looking for. I did end up drilling with the good side facing up for a smoother cut.
Since my rings were made on interlocking blocks and my rings overlapped a few of the interlocked sections I used a bit of contact cement from the dollar store to ensure they stayed put. I just ran the opening along the two interlocking sides.
Didn't take long for me to complete all 16 rings. Maybe an hour in total?
Go find your tree/plant. Dig up the grass and weeds around the base so that the top of the ring sits just a bit higher than the base of the grass. (This picture isn't a good example, unfortunately. I should have dug it down more.)
Time: about 3 hours from start to finish.
Costs:
$1.50 contact cement (used about 1/4 of it)
$21 for a 4 pack of interlocking mats
Total: $22.50
Had I bought the real rubber mats from the store it would have cost me a lot more. The rings in stores around me cost about $25each.
16 rings x $25 = $400.
I just saved over $350!
Yes, the ones I made may wear out in 4-5 years, but by that time the trees will have grown and will need larger holes anyways. There are better and heavier rubber materials out there, but they were just not available locally in my rural location and I wanted to do finish it today.
Hope this helps others who wondered if it were possible to make tree rings for cheap.
