Updated on September 7, 2026. Ratings below are university lists, not a guarantee for your street. Confirm current lists on the linked extension pages before you replant an orchard.
Yes. Deer eat apples — the fruit, the buds, the twigs, and sometimes the bark. Iowa State’s compilation of Rutgers, Cornell, and Michigan State ratings puts orchard apples (Malus spp.) in the frequently severely damaged fruit-and-vegetable group, and crabapples in the same worst woody tier. Losing the fruit is annoying. Losing next year’s fruit buds, or a trunk rubbed to cambium in November, is how the tree dies.
Low fruit in the same garden: strawberries (whole plant) and pumpkins in the fall. Shade-bed candy is hostas. For the rest of the yard, start at the deer-proof garden hub and the wild-diet page what do deer eat.
| Plant | Domestic apple and flowering crabapple (Malus spp.). Dwarf and semidwarf trees never grow out of reach. |
|---|---|
| Verdict | Favorite. Unprotected fruit, buds, and young trunks get used wherever white-tailed deer live. |
| University rating | Iowa State (Rutgers / Cornell / MSU compile, reviewed July 2022): apples frequently damaged as a crop; crabapples frequently damaged as landscape trees. |
| What they eat, when | Late summer–fall: ripening fruit and windfalls. Winter: dormant terminal and fruit buds, twigs under about 1 inch. Fall rut: antler rubs. Spring: new shoots when fat reserves are lowest. |
| Where it is worst | Home orchards and crabapple lawn trees in the Northeast and Upper Midwest, plus any dwarf tree next to a woodlot. |
| Official sheets | Penn State — deer in home fruit plantings (updated June 29, 2026) · Iowa State deer-susceptibility lists · Minnesota Extension deer damage |
What they eat, and when
Apples are two different foods on the same plant. Penn State’s home-fruit sheet is the split: from late summer into early winter, fruits and nuts make up a large part of a whitetail’s diet, so they eat ripening fruit and pick windfalls. That is ordinary autumn mast, the same seasonal move as acorns. It is not a digestive emergency. The damage that kills the planting is the other half of the year.
In winter, deer eat dormant terminal buds and current-year twigs. Penn State: that browse stunts or misshapes standard trees under three years old, and it cuts the next crop on dwarf and semidwarf trees. Minnesota Extension: they usually take branches under one inch, torn because they have no upper incisors. Georgia DNR puts routine browse at four to five feet off the ground. Modern backyard apples on dwarfing rootstocks (M.9, Bud.9, G.41) keep most fruiting wood inside that window for life. A four-foot patio tree never grows out of it.
Spring is the second bad window — Minnesota sees orchard damage rise when fat reserves are lowest. Fall is the third: bucks rub velvet and then fight on small trunks, which Minnesota says can be worse than browsing. Tree guards belong on from August through December. Dawn and dusk raids match deer feeding times. Penn State: once an orchard is a feeding site, deer move in a little before sunset and leave for cover before dawn.
Deer damage vs rabbits vs voles
Height and the cut tell you who did it. Georgia DNR: deer are the only native mammal that routinely browse four to five feet off the ground. Rabbits and voles work the snow line.
- Deer: ragged, shredded twig ends. Minnesota: they typically do not leave tooth marks in bark. Split-heart prints. Oval pellets. Whole leaders gone overnight on a dwarf. Rubs: vertical shredded bark, broken scaffolds, sometimes a girdled trunk.
- Rabbit: clean 45-degree clips, usually within 18–24 inches of the ground or at snow line. Spoon-width tooth marks on bark. If only the bottom is gone, start at how to keep rabbits out of the garden.
- Voles: girdling at soil level under mulch or snow. The tree wilts in spring with the twigs still attached. Hardware cloth at the trunk, buried a few inches, is the vole fix.
Where apples get hit hardest
This is a suburban and farm-edge problem in apple country: western Michigan (the same counties in the Michigan deer hunting guide), the Lake Ontario belt in New York, Pennsylvania’s Ridge-and-Valley orchards, Wisconsin and Iowa homesteads. Iowa State lists both apples and crabapples as frequently damaged. A ‘Prairifire’ crab in the front lawn is not safer than a Honeycrisp. Penn State: dwarf, semidwarf, and young standard trees are most susceptible because most of the tree is within reach. A two-year whip against a fencerow will be a stick by March.
What works
Physical exclusion is the only near-certain fix. Penn State’s conventional orchard barrier is an 8-foot woven-wire fence: two 4-foot widths, 12-foot posts, wire kept tight to the ground so deer do not crawl under. Minnesota’s garden minimum is the same eight feet; their damage page notes deer can jump up to 12 feet and crawl a 7.5-inch gap. How high a deer can jump is why a 4-foot decorative fence around an open orchard is theater. Whole-yard tactics: how to keep deer out of garden beds. Farm-scale layouts: how farmers keep deer away.
Find 8-foot deer fence on Amazon Amazon associate tag checkcheck-20. We may earn a commission.
For one to four backyard trees, cage each tree in welded wire taller than the mature dwarf height — eight feet on a tree that will stay at six — and wide enough that new laterals do not grow through the mesh. Minnesota: wire cylinders should sit at least six feet above snow depth. Add a hardware-cloth skirt buried 2–3 inches for rabbits and voles. White corrugated trunk guards (August–December, then check they are not constricting in April) stop rubs and sunscald; they do not stop a deer from eating the leader.
Find welded-wire tree cages on Amazon Amazon associate tag checkcheck-20. We may earn a commission.
Penn State’s cheaper alternative is a high-tensile five-wire electric fence that trains deer not to walk through. Repellents buy time on a new planting if you start before the first browse, rotate formulas, and respray after rain. Apply contact sprays in the dormant season on dry days above freezing; they will not cover spring flush. Once the row is a known food plot, spray alone rarely holds. Which bottles last: organic deer repellent.
Find deer repellent on Amazon Amazon associate tag checkcheck-20. We may earn a commission.
What does not work
Dumping a bushel of grocery apples as “help.” Windfalls under your own tree in October are autumn mast. A pile you put out in January is supplemental feeding. Penn State has documented wild deer dying from that winter dump — rumen acidosis — because it can take up to four weeks for rumen microbes to shift, and a winter gut is set up for woody browse, not a sugar load. Minnesota: do not feed; high-energy handouts can harm or kill them and train the herd to the house. Legal bans exist in many states. Start at what to feed backyard deer (and why you should not) and the biology on deer digestive system.
Soap bars, hair bags, and a single motion light buy days. Unfenced “deer-resistant” companions do not hide a Honeycrisp. Hunters using apple scent as a lure is a different job — apple-flavored mineral — not a garden tactic.
Three substitutes that already earn their keep
You cannot swap an apple tree for a perennial and still can fruit. If the goal is a small flowering plant or a kitchen crop without an 8-foot cage, plant something the lists actually rate lower:
- Tomatoes — Iowa State: seldom damaged as a crop. Hairy vines are not candy. They will still sample ripe fruit.
- Lavender — strong scent, and it sits on every serious “rarely eaten” list. Use it in the sunny strip where a crabapple would have gone.
- Peonies — big spring flowers deer usually skip for taste and sap. They hold a foundation bed without cages in moderate pressure.
Woody stand-ins Iowa rates better than crabapple — lilac, forsythia, red osier dogwood — live on deer-resistant shrubs. If you still want apples, budget the fence first.
FAQ
Will an apple tree grow back after deer eat it?
Sometimes. A mature standard that lost fruit and laterals will push new wood. A dwarf that lost terminal buds two winters in a row becomes a bush with no crop. A trunk rubbed through the cambium often dies above the wound. Cage it before you count on a comeback.
Do deer eat crabapples too?
Yes. Iowa State lists crabapples (Malus spp.) with the frequently damaged trees and shrubs, same genus as the eating apple. Ornamental fruit is still fruit. Bloom color does not change palatability.
Is it okay to feed deer leftover apples?
No. A few windfalls under your tree in October is normal mast. A grocery bag in a snowbank is a rumen shock and a concentration point for disease. Penn State and Minnesota both say do not feed. Check your DNR before you put anything out.
Will a 4-foot fence save a dwarf apple?
Not if deer can jump it or reach over it. Cage the tree, build an 8-foot fence, or accept the browse. Layout and cost: how to keep deer from eating plants.
Sources
- Iowa State Extension — Susceptibility of Plants to Deer Damage (apples and crabapples frequently damaged; compiles Rutgers, Cornell, Michigan State; reviewed July 2022)
- Rutgers NJAES — Landscape Plants Rated by Deer Resistance
- Penn State Extension — White-tailed Deer in Home Fruit Plantings (updated June 29, 2026; 8-foot woven wire; dwarf/semidwarf risk; winter buds; antler rub)
- Penn State Extension — Enhancing Browse (rumen acidosis deaths from winter feeding; 4-week microbe lag)
- University of Minnesota Extension — White-tailed deer damage (do not feed; spring orchard pressure; torn browse; rubs; 8-foot fence; reviewed 2026)
- Minnesota Extension — 8-foot deer fencing
- Georgia DNR — Controlling Deer Damage (4–5 ft browse height vs rabbits)
This is a child of the deer-proof garden guide. Wild browse, not orchard fruit, is on what deer eat.
