Apple Attack? Lumber Lockdown

I planted a Gordon Apple sapling next to the trampoline last year. We've had this variety of apple before, so we know it grows well in Long Beach. (The fact that the old Gordon Apple tree was finally killed off by the combined effects of no less than two diseases and two simultaneous insect infestations is just evidence that a lot of things grow well in Long Beach.) The sapling I planted was a semi-dwarf, so I figured that by the time it was big enough to be a space concern, we wouldn't have little kids wanting a trampoline any more.

But I forgot about the fact that kids like to sit on the edge of the trampoline and mess with stuff.

In this particular case, they messed with the branches.

All of them.

Stripped off.

Not a single sideways twig left on this poor little whip of a sapling.

So I caged it.

Try and get your mangy paws through THAT, my dear destructive little children!