I have used corrugated 4" french drain pipe and cut to whatever length you need. Fairly inexpensive if you can find some that someone has thrown away...

 

I have used corrugated 4" french drain pipe and cut to whatever length you need. Fairly inexpensive if you can find some that someone has thrown away...

+1

 

Depends on what you mean by tree tubes.
If you mean a plastic tube to protect the bark of an established young tree (6 to 12ft tall) from buck rub, then drain tile or something similar will work.
If you mean as a "grow tube" for protecting seedling trees (6 to 36 inches tall) & accelerating their growth then the items you mention will not work. Tree tubes for seedlings must be translucent in order to work. The best tubes on the market today have just the right level of translucence and ventilation to create good growth conditions inside the tube. Prices for tree tubes have come down quite a bit in recent years. They still seem pricey, but not when you compare the cost to what it costs to successfully grow seedlings without them [wink]

 

If you are going to spend your money on fruit tree that will cost between $10 and $30 plus dollars each why not spend $3, $4 or $5 bucks. A good tree tube will last 5 to 10 years protecting a tree. Deer are one of the biggest threats to young trees.

 

Here is a pic of the irrigation pipe tree protectors
They are good at keeping deer from rubbing on the trees, they will still get one occasionally though.
I put these on trees once they have gotten taller than the grow tubes, or on trees taller than 4 foot transplanted from pots .

I put Tubex grow tubes on the bareroot and small trees

Keep area around tree sprayed to kill grasses, and fertilize a couple of times a year