Protecting your fruit from squirrel's and other critters

General Fruit Growing
#142

Same here. The deer killed one of my mulberry trees a couple of years ago when we were out of town.

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#143

I just got rid of a very pesky squirrel today and I thought I would relate what happened as its something that happens now and then for me and can cause a lot of trouble.

I have my first peaches ripening and the squirrels always come en masse then. So I set up two of my mobile tube traps in the early ripening trees. I caught half a dozen squirrels, but there was one squirrel that would just not go into the traps. I think part of the problem is one squirrel was trapped when we were away for the weekend and it sat in the tube trap a long time and got really stinky. I should have washed out the trap but I decided to just re-set it. This pesky squirrel would eat the mast but would not enter the trap. He was taking a lot of my Gold Dust peaches, most annoying fellow. Fortunately today he decided to check out the Kania trap and he is now in squirrel heaven. I should have removed/cleaned the stinky trap right away as the bad smell is a warning sign and they lose interest in any trap like the stinky one.

Before I had mobile traps I would have more problems with these squirrels that would not go after the traps when the fruit was ripening. I would have to get out the pellet gun as that was the only way I could remove them. This guy I probably would have had to shoot if it were not for the Kania trap he bumped in to. Having traps that you can put right in their path is really important, with that you can eliminate most squirrels that have already latched on to your ripening fruit.

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#144

Good reminder, I should order new tube trap, the one I got having been defective

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#145

Bob could you give us an update on this? For someone with insufficient hand strength to set traps, this looks like a promising option.
What size container is that (44 gal?)
Any refinements/field mods that make it work better.

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#146

Has anyone used these gadgets to get rid of squirrels? It has fairly good reviews. Squirrels are making holes in my netting and trying to get through! I got 11 peaches left in the tree under netting. I have a feeling they won’t let them ripe up. They finished off the entire tree with the exception of those 11 peaches. I got to do something next year. Netting is not working. They’ll eat through anything.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N2TUH6J/ref=simh_0?pf_rd_p=e6a49e68-3d59-4876-badd-d3a7f1fb7b25&pf_rd_s=grid-unrec-4&pf_rd_t=Gateway&pf_rd_i=mobile&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=2SPV0G3W4Z64A8K0K3V3&pf_rd_r=2SPV0G3W4Z64A8K0K3V3&pf_rd_p=e6a49e68-3d59-4876-badd-d3a7f1fb7b25&pd_rd_i=B01N2TUH6J

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#147

I tried something like that for mice, they were undeterred

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#148

We used the combination of

  1. Havahart trap.
  2. Metal screening pouches.
  3. Solar fence.
    It must be the beginner’s luck, from 6/15 to 6/30 we harvested 250 tree ripe, juicy, excellent Cot-N-Candy from this one year old tree.

I highly recommend solar fence.

2448×3264 2.07 MB

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#149

You caught a little one!

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#150

Yup, over here opossums seem easier to fool, but the local animal control has stopped taking them.

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#151

Once the squirrels have found the fruit it is too late for mild deterrents like that. If you net the fruit well before any are ripe and put out a few of those it could give some added protection.

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#152

I netted part of the tree when the fruit was dime size. Way before ripening. Still not ripe. They got the taste for immature ones. They finished of un-netted part and now moved on to the netted. I can see how I’ll have 0 peaches yet again this year. What’s heartbreaking is I got no disease or insect damages whatsoever this year. Just these squirrels!

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#153

I’m gonna look this up! Looks expensive :slightly_smiling_face:
It very attractive in the yard either. But then again neither are nets.

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#154

Correction: I got 6 more peaches, not 11 as this morning.

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#155

While out bush hogging yesterday I was very pleasantly surprised to see this guy overwatching my blueberry plot. He was most likely looking for rabbits that get flushed out of the tall grass as I bush hog. Nonetheless, I was happy to see him. Hope he sticks around and keeps the critter population down. :+1:

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#156

Where can one buy or research that solar fence?

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#157

We bought the solar controller from Harbor Freight, with coupon it’s about $50. The homemade PVC frame and hardware cloth are just some scrap we had. It’s portable, one of the panels opens and locks. It zaps, but it doesn’t kill.
So far it works great! Pretty soon we’ll move it to another location.
We made a bigger one, 10x10, protecting a 4 in 1 hole area. I’ll take a picture tomorrow.

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#158

I will get back on it, but for now, I’ve moved back to the bigger traps. I’m not seeing as much bait-stealing and I really need to clear out the coons/possums before the big fruit ripens. Also, the strawberries I was trying to protect are gone.

Yes, it is a 44 gal garbage can.

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#159

Here is another solar fence we made. It’s 10x10, the tent frame supports bird netting.

2448×3264 2.26 MB

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#160

Nice. Where are you located (you can put that in your profile)?
Is that a citrus to the left? Are they not bothered by vermin? This is my 1st year with citrus and not sure if critters bother them.

It looks like to me that a squirrel could easily squirm under that PVC. No ?

I’m guessing where you are the climate is dry (?) because in my climate wet grass touching the hot side (like you have) will short out your electric fence. Just sayin’

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#161

For those of us in tick country…here is a little thing i just came across…

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