Has anyone noticed timing of when animals start devouring E. Pears (Bartlett, I suspect), versus the date they should be picked? I think the Raccoons are getting mine, starting 2 days ago.
I feel like they are on the verge, and thinking maybe I should harvest before I lose another 15% tonight.
Here, all Bartlett had either been picked or splattered on the ground before end of AUGUST.
Well, I picked about 100 and left about 35 on the tree that didn’t detach going horizontal. Have the wildlife cam on tonight and put some rose thorns around the trunk… we’ll see.
My trees are picked clean about 1 month before harvest time. Not eaten. Just 1 bite.
Squirrels stripped my pears over a month ago.
My trail cams recorded a young buck in my orchard eating trees for about 2 hours a few nights ago.
Squirrels ate all my Jonathan apples months before they would have ripened.
Very unfortunate that there are so many hungry overpopulation of squirrels thaat they ruin immature fruits just to eat the seeds inside them.
They’ve left me alone this year…enough other things for them to eat … good nut year.
Squirrels aren’t bad this year. Did some damage on peaches but left more for me. I saw a hawk flying around. When Eco system is balanced, damage occurs less often
I just felt I’m lucky compared with you guys.
Deer like to visit my pears trees and strip the leaves and fruits on lower limbs. I still have a bountiful pears left. One tree picked and the Shen Li is not ready yet.
They’re after the seed? Somehow I didn’t know that.
Unless you are game to mass trap all the local squirrels (i’d say for this area…i’d have to remove at least 10…if not 20)…then its a losing battle unless you wrap the fruit somehow in hardware cloth or something. I’m hoping squirrel plague breaks out.
Truth.
Where I used to live the squirrels would take the pears off and take one bite out of them since they were not ripe yet. I used bb gun to thin the squirrels out.
Where I am not my trees are in a 3 area field. It the squirrels go up there the friendly hawks get the squirrels. I had a rabbit problem early one year By the end of July there were not a problem, thanks to the hawks in my area.
My main problem now is raccoons. The hawks are not out at night to get the raccoons. I only have owls to pick off the young ones. I have to put netting up when the fruits are getting ready to be ripe to try and get the fruit for me , not the raccoons.
Back in the day, fur coats helped keep the number of varmints under control!
I miss those days.
Squirrels did not bother my home fruit orchard this year. I picked the last of it— the Luscious pears—today. I still have a few apples in my other young rural orchard, but so far the critters haven’t bothered them there. I’m recovering from surgery, so haven’t been able to give gardens much attention of late.
My brother has some land that he has apples growing at…the apples are surrounded by forest and there is a cornfield on one side. I was shocked at how little of pest pressure he has seen so far other then winter deer damage (but he has fencing around the trees for now). I was up there in late July and they apples he had looked great (young trees still). Maybe predators keep things in check or maybe they just haven’t figured out that their is a new food source. I’m pretty sure he didn’t spray for PC and i saw no hits. My apples looked horrible in comparison…i do wonder it being a young orchard, that over time those pests will build if he doesn’t keep them in check. The forest surrounding is mostly red oak…so squirrels are there.
This is all part and parcel of the great hound dog shortage.
This year the crows cleaned out nearly all my pears. One day a full load, next day empty tree. I did protect one stand well so I got some pears. Next year on top of lots of time going after deer, squirrels, raccoons, groundhogs, wasps, and songbirds I get to spend time protecting against the crows. Sigh.
Isn’t anyone making a robot dog for this purpose, yet?