pentapus wrote:
On 6/10/2014 7:52 PM, David Hare-Scott wrote:
wrote:
BooHoo,
Last year was the first year for my peach tree to bear fruit and it
did, many, many peaches. This year there would have been even more,
but in one night (it seems) they were all gone.
My neighbor claims it is raccoons, but I can't be sure. We have a
plum tree on the other side of the house that has always been left
alone.
What can we do? We had raccoons under the deck one year and played
rap music (!), and put rags soaked in ammonia under there and they
left, but that won't work with this tree. Or would it?
TIA,
Julie
I don't have raccoons but I do have possums (not opossums). A
possum is smart, strong, agile climber, dedicated to the task of
getting your fruit and with good teeth. Is that like a raccoon? If
so only wire mesh that they cannot chew through or electric tape
that they cannot get past will keep them off ripe fruit.
Hmmm, my rough take on the difference is that a possum is much much
smarter. What kind of wire deters a possum?
Speaking of possums, synthetic fibre netting such as the kind used to keep
off birds will not do they definitely chew through that. It needs to be
metal. They are excellent climbers and leapers so if the fence is climbable
it needs an electric wire too. The effective combination that I have seen
is a normal height wire fence around the orchard with dog wire (metal mesh
about 6cm grid) added to fill in between the standard wires plus an electric
wire on standoffs near the top on the outside. They climb the mesh but then
touch the electric line and jump off.
I have opossums and raccoons here, though being piedmont urban,
Atlanta, not in large numbers.
I have no experience of opossums.
I also have peaches disappear in one night.
I wonder which is the most likely perpetrator?
Looking for fence wire on the cheap. 1/2" hardware cloth is pricey in
quantity. What about regular welded wire?
http://www.lowes.com/pd_492387-16418...uctId=50017410
Weldmesh would do the job provided they cannot climb over it.
David