One thing that both TAProots Farm and the Florida Home have in common is FRUIT-EATING VARMITS, specifically deer, raccoons, rabbits, and squirrels/chipmunks. Nothing is so disappointing as watching your fruit set and ripen, and, on the day you chose to harvest, you find all the fruit eaten. We use several methods to protect our fruit trees and bushes. First, we might use bird netting to protect near-ripe fruit. I use this on my table grapes in New York and my Satsuma tangerines in Florida. The Satsuma crop was very nice this year and I picked a dozen or so fruit. The next day, half the tangerines were gone, and I wrapped the tree in bird netting. The next morning, almost all were gone but a young raccoon was still tangled. I untangled him and returned him to his mother and siblings who had fed well. Another problem is the buck deer using the tender young fruit tree trunks to rub off the velvet from their antlers in the fall at TAProots or earlier in Florida. We have lost several young trees this way, both in New York and in Florida. For this we use four foot high rabbit fencing bent into a round of 3 foot diameter with a stake to hold it into the ground. The final problem is the raccoons and squirrels climbing up into the tree to pick and eat the fruit, and breaking the tree branches in the process. We’re trying something new this year, a large baffle placed on top of 30-36 inch length of stove pipe to keep animals from climbing the tree. We will see if this is effective. At the Florida Home, we already have tree blooming-peaches, plums are steadily being formed. If we expect any peaches this year, we need to get these protective strategies in place quickly.
TAProots
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