I live in South East Mesa in a lot with a Block wall tha Borders the natural desert. Last year I could not figure out why ALL of my fruit was disappearing from the trees without a trace. We actually discussed it on this forum, and thought it had to be children stealing the fruit becuase it seemed odd for squirrels or the like to take trees full of fruit almost overnight.
WEll, this year it happened again. The little buggers wait until the fruit is ripe and just ready for picking too. I lost two trees full of apples, a tree full of pluots, a tree full of peaches. All my tomatoes... gone, gone, gone. :-(
AND I had prepared in advance this year by putting bird netting on the trees. I thought I was safe, had the netting secured at the top and bottom of the tree. But one morning I go to pick them and, nope, all gone. Apparently they found the crease where I had overlapped the netting (its not big enough to cover the whole tree in one piece) and they stil got in. I only had a few early ripening peaches that managed to survive their clutches. And they know to wait until all the fruit are ripe to take them... it is SO FRUSTRATING!
Buuuuuut, we do have confirmation that the culprits are of the rodent, not human, variety. We have a large population of some small variety of desert chipmunk or squirrel (they climb). We also have a few Packrats, but not in quite the quantity that we have the squirrels. This year they left the telltale chew marks on a few unripe apples that they left behind.
Pest control is setting out traps for the packrats and said there isnt too many so they should be pretty easy to keep under control. As for the squirrels/chipmunks, there are hundreds of them. They said we cannot trap them. So I have no CLUE what to do about them. Im not keen on puttin gout poison cause I am afraid it might kill someones beloved pet. :-(
But I am getting desperate! Does anyone have any idea for protecting my newly ripening melons, and for the fruit trees before the citrus start to ripen? I thought if I stuck with a green variety of Melons they might be safe, but I noticed today they have already chewed a hole in one rind to "check for doneness." So apparently the color green is not enough of a disincentive. I cant see them hauling off a watermelon (even a little seedless one). But the fact the chewing alone will spoil them.
I finally have things growing well out here great out here in this crazy climate, and the wildlife is making off with my entire harvest! My fruit harvest was a total disappointment this year. I dont want to lose my melons, citrus, and pumpkins. I am at my wits end! HELP!
Jessica
winter_plumage_AZ
lazy_gardens
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