Observations of stonefruit in bloom this season

I took a quick look at my tree. It has another sparse crop- maybe 20 cherries on a tree that is 8’ wide and 9’ tall. There are another 5-10 cherries which are black from some sort of disease/issue. I’ll probably move it to a rental if there is space when I’m ready to transplant. If not, or if it is too much trouble to dig, I’ll just get rid of it. It is taking up a very nice location.

Olpea is far ahead of me- mine aren’t even sized up yet, let alone ripe.

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My Black Gold cherries are turning color. Faster than I realized because I saw bird-pecked fruit on the ground. This morning, I saw a cluster of cherries (green) on the ground. Those darn birds. I want to spray Indar the 2nd time before I net (spraying after netting is a pain).

Hopefully, wind will die down a bit more tomorrow. I don’t like spraying when wind is windy. So far, we’ve had 20-30 mph of wind lately. I put up bird scare tape this morning to slow down those stealers before I net.

Same thing here. Windy!

I put it on all by myself this morning!!!

I put a couple of bamboo branches with small twigs on top of the tree so the net does not sit right on top of cherries. Otherwise, smart birds could reach in and pick through the net.

For a good measure, I put a few bird scare tapes on bamboo poles. Windy days have it usefulness. :smile:

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My birds would go right under the net- I have to tie them tightly to the trunk.

I just use rocks to anchor it. Maybe, I should consider tying it.

If you tie it to the trunk by winding string around it and tying a bow it is quick to open and it keeps the net above the grass so you can mow if needed. The only birds I don’t do that for is crows- you can just droop a net over a tree for them and I’ve never had them hop up from underneath- even if the net stops well short of the ground. I don’t know if they are so reluctant in all situations- I bet if they were real hungry they would try harder.

Birds are less likely to get tangled in nets that are tied securely to the trunk. I had a bunch of flickers stuck in a net drooping on the ground like yours- it was very difficult cutting them free. They were after plums.