If anyone recalls, I asked in early June about putting bird netting over my apricot tree. Got several answers, and thanks. I did net the small (7 ft. high) tree which was planted a year ago, to protect what turned out to be about 30 heavenly pale orange fruits! It looked like a giant hairnet, but it kept the birds and squirrels off while they ripened (the fruits ripened, not the squirrels. Well actually, the squirrels ripened too).

It's chancey, planting apricot trees in zone 6, because they bloom very early, often before the pollinating insects are around. But this year the weather cooperated; and I consider 30 apricots on a tree this young, a bumper crop. In future years, I will have to cull (i.e., remove) half of the baby fruits when they are the size of olives, in order to get the energy and sap to the remainders, to produce good fruits. Information in case anyone wants to try raising apricots.

Peaches (which bloom a bit later) would probably be easier. But I'd net them too.

Carol