Fruit/berry critters do not like

General Fruit Growing
#21

I have it on authority that hogs won’t eat pawpaw fruit.

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#22

Add mulberries to your list… but consider them similar to goumi… in that birds will get some and you will get plenty too.

No spray, some pruning… low maintenance… some can fruit for 2 months… some can fruit multiple times per season.

Deer will browse the leaves… they grow quickly and in a year or two you can easily get most varieties up above deer browse range.

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#23

In my exurban area the deer seem to know to take to the hills during hunting season so there is at least that.

If I were king there would be a four-hour long “urban hunting season” one spring Sunday morning 5-9 a.m. for bow hunters.

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#24

Most years, birds will destroy my strawberries, lightly assault the red currents, but leave the black currents and gooseberries alone.

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#25

I left some loquat cuttings in wheelbarrow last night…the deer ate most of them, so “no go” for loquat without deer protection.

#26

i have 60lbs frozen. im going to have to play with them over winter. bought a 6-tray dehydrator and going to dry a bunch for peanut butter granola bars. tried some dried b. currants in the last batch and they were awesome. i had to get another freezer as my big one is full of frozen fruit and leftover moose meat.

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#27

i agree except the crows hit my jeanne gooseberry once they start to color. shot a few and they left it alone.

#28

It seems like animal pressure is the defining quality. I’ve left some pretty appetizing feed around, and while the dog is on patrol, the only thing that’ll tangle with him is skunks. Our last dog thought squirrels were his friends, and they’d rob us blind. :smile:

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#29

Thanks for that info. I have aronia growing the last few years but haven’t used any yet. I’ll try them in cheesecake next year. Birds have taken some of them but they seem to be a last choice.

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#30

Yeah, here they will strip haskaps and saskatoons, and nearly strip raspberries. They don’t seem to like currants at all. I was concerned that they would try the red ones on account of them being red but that was not the case.

The worst offenders are robins but fortunately for cherries by the time they ripen most have moved away. It is weird; one week there is a ton of pressure from robins the next they are gone.

#31

Yeah, aronia seem the least touched of fruits I’ve planted. Deer eat some of the leaves if it comes down to it, but don’t seem interested in the berries.

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#32

I haven’t tried to tempt the deer with my loquat, and my trees have quince leaves on them too. The deer have been in the enclosure and I haven’t noticed it, but wouldn’t rule it out.

Rabbits sure liked to decapitate young seedlings though.

#33

I have very bad mannered animals.

Instead of finishing 1-2 pawpaws and leaving me one. Nope.

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#34

the crows also hit my johnkers and perfection r. currants but only a few pecks. must be too tart for them. my black currants arent touched by anything here. they will steal crandals but not the euro ones. they stole my 1st few bunches of Marquette grapes though.

#35

Same here! I’d love to know where they go after they leave…
Interestingly enough, I had one stay; it was a fledgling that I presume got separated from it’s parents about the time they left, and spent the summer grazing the yard and playing in the bird bath. It came back for the next three years, nesting in the apple tree over the strawberry beds and staying all summer. I think it must have imprinted on me, since I’d kind of ‘helped it’ around the yard until it was up and flying. I’m sure it was the same bird, since each spring it’d make sure to come up close and visit with me when it arrived. She raised at least two clutches, but they found new digs after flying off I presume.

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#36

i had robins nesting in my deer antlers in my garage over the summer and i usually have them nesting in my spruces near my garden and fruits. ive watched them all summer and they never touch any of my fruits. they catch plenty of worms though. guess im lucky. crows are the only thing here that targets my fruit. they have hit my blueberries in the past then hit my honeyberries and Marquette grapes just lately. that tells me anything blue now is a target. bought the netting years ago after hearing the stories on here of birds wiping out fruit crops so next spring ill put them to good use.

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#37

Insects eat my strawberries…

#38

No bag limit!

#39

esp. stink bugs here.

#40

I summarized the results of all of the above postings to my question the best I could below.

Question marks mean that I do not have personal experience with the fruit

I live in zone 5b in a residential neighborhood of a city, so I do not see deer, very rarely a racoon or opossum but do have plenty of squirrels, chipmunks and birds.

Fruit/berries critters do not like:

  • Citrus – I have no problems at all with critters

  • Sea Buckthorn?

  • Aronia?

  • Jujube?

  • Keifer pears?

  • Kiwi (but deer love them)?

  • Evergreen huckleberries?

  • Goumi? – birds might leave you some

  • Mulberries? - birds might leave you some

  • Fruit/berries critters DO like:

    • Elderberries – mine were picked clean by birds
    • Blackberries - mine were picked clean by birds
    • Strawberries – mine were picked clean by chipmunks, birds and squirrels
    • Apples – some critter stole all of them
    • Loquat? – deer love them
    • Gooseberries - mine were picked clean by chipmunks, birds and squirrels
    • Currants - mine were picked clean by chipmunks, birds and squirrels
    • Haskaps?
    • Saskatoons?
    • Cherries – neighbor’s tree was picked clean before they ripened
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