Interesting. It looks work well on the mangos. It may works on pears that have longer and stronger stem.
What is the bag called? I would like to google it and further study its structure to see if it will really build against squirrels.
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Google vented plastic containers, you will see a variety of them.
I intend to try them on pears. I think they will prevent squirrels from damaging pears.
They won’t work on peaches as the vented holes are too large. Clemson bags are good enough for peaches.
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I would not bet any money on it. Squirrels are very smart and persistent, my guess they will be able to open or chew through them.
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In the future I’m actually considering building a cattle panel cage as the main supporting structure around some of my trees. Several are not in the lawn but are in crushed limestone walkways so it would be clean. Once the cage is built I’d add smaller mesh wire.
Since the frame would be there I could add shading cloth or whatever seems appropriate for the season or pest.
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Tulle bag and tin foil seem to deter the squirrels here.
The picture is after I remove the tin foil, tin foil on the trunks too. I do leave out some for them though.
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I can’t imagine enclosing any developing fruit with something that cannot breathe. With the high humidity levels here I’d think there would be other issues besides flying and crawling things…
In summer here every single overnight and morning humidity is 95-100%, daytime humidity rarely drops below 65%.
You don’t cover them tightly, somebody in Florida just reported that she did that with her figs and she got figs to eat. I would think Florida has high humidity level too.
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Maybe it depends on the fruit. I covered grapes one year and it didn’t end well. They went moldy. Most publications talk about increasing air flow to helps stave off disease. Covering in a bag that doesn’t allow much airflow seems to go against it?
So maybe you limit or eliminate some insect exposure but give some other diseases a better environment to foster.
As most of my fruit trees should at least start producing fruit next year I’ll probably try several methods from nothing to the other extreme and see how it goes.
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It’s good to try several methods, this is my first year of having more apricots than I can remember, normally they strip the whole tree when I get back from vacation. This year the apricot tree is ripening up much later.
I am in zone 6a New England. Last year I covered my whole (plum) tree with a Kootenay cover (you can google it).
The cover was made of fine mesh and quite heavy. It did not work. Fruit and leaves were covered with mildew, sooty blotch type of fungus. Top branches bent all over due to the weight of the cover.
While it kept insect out, fruit were not at edible as they covered by sticky, sooty stuff that was difficult to wash off.
That cover would work well in arid areas like CA or Utah.
@galinas used a tulle material successfully, I believe.
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I will ask my friend if squirrels have taken any mango. They have squirrels.
Probably a good example of how speaking of any particular issue doesn’t jive with everyone because we all live in different climates or micro climates.
I can have conversations all day with others in zone 9a thinking we are on the same page (block?), but if it isn’t the same 9a that I live in all bets are off.
Great to have this forum with all the experience here and ideas to kick around and see what works for you.
That’s why when I see newer members here who live in humid areas get all excited after seeing perfect stone fruit grown by members in Spain, I just smile.
I said this before, and will said it again: growing fruit is like real estate. Location, location, location.
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Hey don’t we know it, we’re in California, a very large state with many different growing climate.
I used to make a cover using some material from Lowes to cover my melons, that’s all the fruit I had, the bags were secure enough to keep large animal out, and they are breathable. I think I may get back to do that soon.
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I have perfect fruit with plastic, horrible sooty blotch with tulle.
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The key is, does she tree-ripen her mangoes? Squirrels will probably leave them alone till they get ripe and fragrant.
There are so many variables. Materials used is just one of then. Then, what fruit, what weather?, etc.
Here where I live, it depends on the year. We had a dry summer last year. My stone fruit had minimal fungal issues.
This year it has been a very wet so far. Even , my sour cherries split (soft fruit usually don’t split much) and the later batch had more rot, too.
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I think that’s the sort of mango variety you eat them green if I remember.
Not tulle, I used plastic insect netting. The tricks are
- have frame larger then your tree and install netting on the frame, so it doesn’t touch the leaves.
- Spray before installing the net for insects and fungus.
- Check for infestations often and spray as needed. For that you should be able to get under the net.
I successfully covered sour cherries, apricot, apples, blueberries, currants, honey berries this way. Tried on plum, but failed to build a proper frame, so it didn’t work well…
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Where I’m at in Tennessee/6B might not be quite as humid where you are, but it’s pretty humid…
Apples at least are happy inside a zip-top plastic bag. With both bottom corners cut off to let moisture escape but providing very little air circulation I suspect. Probably not the best for stone fruit though.
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