No double entendre meant (and at my age I have no use for those either) but…
I am sick of trying to protect my 4 cherry espaliers from the squirrels and especially the /&%#2 chipmunks.
The netting keeps the birds off and the electrified chicken wire fence keeps the squirrels out. But those chipmunks get in via the tiniest tiny opening. Being espaliers my trees start low close to the ground with a nice roadway made up of all the trellis wires.
Not wanting to waste the established root system I want to graft over the cherry stumps when I cut them down.
So… (after the too long lead in)… What can I graft onto Cherry stumps, other than cherries???
Mike, Gamo makes a silenced line of air rifles. SHOOT the little bastards!!
“Oh, Chikn, I’m in the city.” Open a window or door and shoot inside the house out. Don’t let vermin ruin your fun and food.
Chikn
I have a Benjamin Marauder .25
I got three with the peanut butter laced rat traps.
With a cat I would also need to lay in a huge supply of Epi Pens and Emergency Medivac on the grounds for the significantly irreplaceable other half of my life.
I only get to the orchard on the weekend so the Marauder and rat traps don’t do much when I am away.
Weekend before 4th of July I had one Evans Bush Cherry with literally hundreds of green cherries with no color. I draped netting over it, sealed it up every which way. And I put 2 of the rat traps under the tree, one at each end.
This past weekend ALL the cherries were gone but ONE. It was red so I picked it and ate it. It could have definitely used some more flavor developing ripening time.
The traps were bypassed and all the cherries were gone.
Earlier in June I lost all the fruit on a Northstar Cherry but I was to blame as I found an opening that I did not seal.
But with Evans, the netting was tied, sewn and taped shut. DID NO GOOD.
I second. I had five chipmunks live under my patio,digging up the bulbs,eating blueberry gooseberry… Did all sorts of damage. Ever since my boy, the Tom cat on patrol, It gets rid of chipmunks, bunnies, and squirrels have to be careful walking near the house. I have never had cat before, this is my first cat in my life, and he was a homeless cat when I met him in the woods.I am so glad he picked us and we took him home. Maybe I also need a dog too to get rid of skunk and coons
[quote=“MES111, post:1, topic:6501”]What can I graft onto Cherry stumps, other than cherries??? [/quote] I thought only cherries are compatible with cherries.
[quote=“MES111, post:5, topic:6501”]
The traps were bypassed and all the cherries were gone.
[/quote]I have that problem with at least one remaining chipmunk hanging around my potted plants near the house. As hard as it is to believe, there seems to be some smart chipmunks. This guy stays silent and won’t expose himself long enough for a shot with the air rifle. All I see is streak of him once in awhile. He also doesn’t go for any of the bait in any of the traps. Maybe he saw what happened to one of his friends that took the bait? I guess I will have to disguise the trap or try a different type. Unfortunately, the feral cats haven’t been patrolling close to the house lately. Where are they when I need them? It is frustrating.
Would keeping the cat in the enclosed 150’ x 50’ orchard be considered cruel.
I could set up a “cat house” in the orchard and provide water. The challenge is that I don’t think there will be sufficient prey inside the orchard and if I provide supplemental feeding I might wind up with a happy “fatcat” .
I am not sure if it is true or not, but chipmunks clear out berries for water, and they prefer grains to fruit. Is there a water source in your orchard? My neighbor has a pond, and my other neighbor feeds “birds” on the ground with bread leftovers. And you can imaging amount of chipmunks around. I often see them going through my yard not paying attention to my crop going from their “feeding” station to “drinking” station.
I’ve heard a lot people say they found drowned chipmunks in their kiddie pools. I wonder if it needs to be hard type of plastic that they cannot get their claws into, else they might be able to climb back out.
A rather large cat came by my house and never left. I decided he needed to work if he stayed around so I put a water bowl near the chipmunk den. The cat hangs around the bowl and the chipmunks are gone. Simple solution.
