For the low branching I either wrap each branch separately, or make a skirt all along the bottom side, more like a netting than a trunk wrap. They hate the stuff so you don’t have to do a perfect job and it will probably work.
I had some cases where a neighboring tree was not fruiting so I didn’t wrap it, and the squirrel could have easily climbed that tree and hopped over to the wrapped tree with lots of fruit on it. I was ready to wrap those neighbor trees but I didn’t need to. Squirrels are smart and normally they would just jump over, but my guess is the wrap on the trunk with the fruit scared them. They are smart, but they are chickens.
I’m curious how long this continues to deter them since they tend to be pretty adaptable (and as you said smart).
If this worked an entire year though, even if they eventually find a brave trailblazer amongst their population, this should be a good tool in the arsenal to deal with them. Thanks for the update. I’ll definitely be trying this solution in a couple years when i expect my first fruits.
I don’t think there is much adaptation they can do. Their claws get stuck horribly in the stuff. It could be some wraps they can get over if the netting is right snug to the trunk, but a loosely-wrapped one that is long enough they are never getting through.
One thing I learned fencing in trees from deer is if you do a sloppy job the deer can find ways around. I’ve had whole fences lifted up and off pulling the stakes out of the ground. But over the years I got better and now they rarely get through. So, in the worst case I may need to do some hardening of defenses on some of the trees. This first year even the sloppiest of jobs seemed to work.
Oops I missed this question. All of them worked so I’m doing tight to the trunk until proven otherwise. It looks nicer to me that way and uses less netting. I’m always doing at least two wraps around the tree now though, just to make sure there is plenty of netting to snarl things up.
I am using the chain-loc stuff to hold them down, one nice thing about it is as the tree grows you can make it one notch less tight. It will be interesting to see how long these hold up, I have a couple that are two years old and so far they are not showing any signs of wear.
It should work great on any rodent. I’ve never seen a squinnie and chipmunks are only a problem in strawberries for me so I didn’t get to personally test that.
Going to try this. I don’t have a squirrel problem but the raccoons destroy everything. Even the woodchucks don’t take everything but the raccoons just don’t leave anything.
I’ve been thinking about this bird netting baffles for my raccoon problem ever since you mentioned it. Thanks for the update. That will be my first line of defense.
I’m waiting for some clear evidence in which a nearby tree unprotected with netting loses its fruit to squirrels while the one with trunk netting is avoided. I would love to be able to abandon my present baffling methods for this much simpler and less expensive approach but do not trust the current evaluations, mainly because in my region we have enjoyed a 3-year respite from true squirrel pressure. The upcoming season may well bring an end to this welcome development given the numbers I’m seeing in my general region starting last fall- they finished off my late apple crop after I had harvested what I needed. .
Scott says he’s had success also from netting the branches, while in my region the squirrels pretty consistently tear through the nets to get to fruit, no matter the type of netting, barring metal. Chicken wire is sometimes called netting and my squirrels starve before getting through it unless there is an opening they can squeeze through.
@alan I definitely plan to try this and will aim my game cameras at some trees to see how it goes. I’ll leave something unprotected to see.
Usually, I have plenty of video of squirrels carrying off peaches larger than their body.
I am hopeful this will work, at least for a time, but I think this will be a lot like deer protection- the effectiveness will vary by the local conditions. When I hear of people who can keep deer out with minimal fencing I am very jealous.
Above you said that your squirrels stayed away from this monofilament bird netting where you had it. You also said you wanted to try it. So why are you now implying it won’t work? Give it a try this coming year on a few trees, it will only take 10 minutes to set up.
Please lead me to that comment. I never even use monofilament for anything except the heavy form for deer fencing. I have noticed that squirrels tend to avoid climbing such fencing and use the fence posts to get into areas where I’ve used it. I have one site where the knitted netting- a heavy and very expensive form of it, worked, but at other sites they’ve chewed through it.
I’m not implying it won’t work, I’m flat out stating that I have insufficient evidence to commit to it professionally- even anecdotal evidence from forum members is not yet adequate to give me enough confidence in it (maybe by the end of next season). My livelihood depends on my customers harvesting their fruit. My method has worked through massive squirrel boons and starvation cycles. I won’t replace them until I’m certain of the efficacy of an easier alternative.
One reason I am skeptical is that gardeners have been using that netting for a very long time and it seems if it really worked word would have gotten around a long time ago. However, attaching it to the trunk loosely is not an obvious fix, so I’m certainly no dismissing the idea out of hand.
It takes several years to evaluate these types of defenses, just as it takes several years to evaluate any given fruit variety. However, if Benthegirl gets a video of squirrels in her orchard avoiding such netted trees, it would be pretty convincing. I’m also waiting for your report on a year of extreme pressure and on such reports from others. On my own property I control them with traps and my shotgun.
It did appear to work on a few trees here, but it was also a low animal pressure year. So until I see more evidence I’m not quite ready to take the flashing off my trees. More than willing to give it a chance though as I’ve got tons of that crap net. I hope it does work.
I’ll be trying the netting on my 8 filbert trees, leaving one unnetted.
Two years ago I set Havahart traps and caught 12 squirrels - enough to decrease the pressure and let nuts fall to ground for easy gathering.
Last year same traps, same bait, and caught 0 squirrels. They ate the unripened nuts off the tree.
But in re-reading this it sounds like you meant the big squares deer fencing, not the small squares bird netting? The kind of netting is critical, the cheap bird stuff is very thin and snags on everything. The deer fencing doesn’t seem to bother them. Also the woven bird netting they will happily walk all over.
Yes, I absolutely hate fooling with that cheap bird netting. Gets caught on my tennis shoes. I end up having to get cut it off my feet. I do not have a squirrel problem the hawks take care of them. However, raccoons are different story and I am going to try every configuration I can think of. It will be a lot easier than the scrap tin metal I was putting up around my trees last year.
Hopefully, I will get time to put up my game camera should be interesting.
