In 1992, when Jill Saunders was a year old, her family planted 20 sycamores and maples on their Kempton farm. Since then, only one of those trees has survived the year-round damage done by deer.
Jill and her father, Jim, tried wrapping their trees with a variety of tree guards — “glorified ace bandages,” recalls Jill. Eventually, the pair decided to design a better tree guard.
Their invention, Tree Armor, is a coiled PVC plastic engineered to unwind around any size trunk. The product is brown and almost invisible from a short distance. It is reusable, perforated to prevent mold and mildew, and certified to be free of heavy metals and other toxins that can leach into the ground, a critical factor for orchard farmers and food growers.
And the product is now made in America, a special point of pride for the Saunders family.
“Dad and I took our prototypes to 12 different extruders in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware,” says Jill. “Some wouldn't even bid on making samples. Others couldn't give us a price that we could sell at. We were frustrated when we sent the prototypes to China. The Chinese were glad to make our initial order — the price was right and the quality was pretty good. The second order came back at a higher cost and the quality wasn't nearly as good. That last order made us more determined to find an American manufacturer.”
A sales call to Lehigh University resulted in an introduction to Lehigh’s Small Business Development Center; they connected Tree Armor with GSH Industries in Ohio, who began manufacturing the product in November.
That third run of 30,000 pieces is selling well over the Internet, and Tree Armor hopes to move into big-box retail. Meanwhile, the Saunders have invented a new product, Tree Armor Plus, a tree guard impregnated with a scent that repels deer, rabbits and rodents.
Source: Jill Saunders, Tree Armor
Writer: Elise Vider