Avian Apricot Thieves?
June 16, 2022 6:40 PM Subscribe
My apricot tree was growing a nice crop this year but--even though they were not that close to ripe--almost all of them have fallen off the tree. I don't think this was spontaneous. It probably wasn't neighbors. What animals do I blame?
This happened once before, about five years ago. It's been fine since then. I assume some animals are knocking them off so they can eat them and they stumbled on the trick again this year.
Is this a reasonable hypothesis? And if so, who do I blame? There are of crows in the area, who seem smart enough to pull this off; plenty of squirrels, whose intelligence I tend to question; and there are certainly racoons and possums in the neighborhood somewhere but I haven't seen or heard any in my yard in a while.
Bonus question: Is there a plausible way to avoid this next year?
This happened once before, about five years ago. It's been fine since then. I assume some animals are knocking them off so they can eat them and they stumbled on the trick again this year.
Is this a reasonable hypothesis? And if so, who do I blame? There are of crows in the area, who seem smart enough to pull this off; plenty of squirrels, whose intelligence I tend to question; and there are certainly racoons and possums in the neighborhood somewhere but I haven't seen or heard any in my yard in a while.
Bonus question: Is there a plausible way to avoid this next year?
Could it be fruit drop? I’m not sure if trees drop that much fruit, but I’d consider it. Also, if you net the tree, be careful. We deformed a cherry tree trying this method and won’t do it again. We also bag our apples (we staple wax paper sandwich bags around each fruit when it’s about the size of a quarter). Takes FOREVER but it does work well for apple maggots.
posted by 10ch at 8:02 PM on June 16, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by 10ch at 8:02 PM on June 16, 2022 [2 favorites]
If the tree dropped all its fruit, that sounds like a stressed tree. Heat, drought?
posted by clew at 12:46 AM on June 17, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by clew at 12:46 AM on June 17, 2022 [5 favorites]
Crows are hella smart and squirrels are smarter than most dogs so 🤷 could be! However, I'm skeptical that they wouldn't do it every year once they learned the trick. I'm going with stressed tree. Unusual heat or lots of rain lately?
posted by tiny frying pan at 4:33 AM on June 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by tiny frying pan at 4:33 AM on June 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Our peach tree did the same thing this year. It was definitely stress of some kind, not a critter.
posted by saladin at 4:57 AM on June 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by saladin at 4:57 AM on June 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
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It seems like they enjoy taking one or two pecks at each fruit and then they rip them off the tree and hurl them to the ground. And on to the next cherry.
You can protect your fruit next year by "netting" it. You want to cover it so the birds can't get to it easily. Do not use "bird netting" or other wide mesh nets. Birds get trapped in them.
I have used a couple of old white bedsheets tied up but if you're fancy you can buy very fine mesh sheets. There are even fruit tree "sleeves" which save you the hassle of covering the whole canopy.
*All the birds. Every kind of bird my husband and I have seen eating the cherries does the peck peck hurl.
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 7:17 PM on June 16, 2022 [6 favorites]