This year I realized excellent yields from my june early july stone fruits ( plums, nectarines, peaches), and my Lodi apples. There was very little bird or swuirrel damage to these crops. However, as soon as my Illinois everbearing mullberry tree stopped pumping out berries, the bird damage has made it nearly impossible to get any of my later ripening fruits. Any suggestions for trap crops that can divert the pest pressure from the last week in July through October?
PG. Wrong answer.
Any one with a serious take on my question? Late ripening mulberries? American plums?
Eventually enough birds show up to eat the trap crop and the main crop. At least that is what happened to me. So I’m not sure a trap crop is a viable thing for birds. If you want to try something I would say grapes, some disease-resistant ones require almost no work and the birds go for them before most other things. They ripen from August through October depending on variety. I have lots of grapes and I get basically zero harvest since I don’t net them. And the birds are chowing down on everything else at the same time.
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