For the reasons you mentioned, and others, I gave up putting full nets over my
fruit
trees. It took a full day to put it up and another to take it down. I had a
nice system
though, using a vertical pole extending above the tree top. On top of the pole
I had
a horizontal 'X' crossbars with a wire around the perimeter and plastic bottles
at the
ends to allow the net to slip over it. Four guy wires held it up.

I have since gone to a different system of covering my more valuable fruits with
zip
lock sandwich bags. You need a slit at the bottom for the rain to drain out. I
am
also experimenting this year with nylon 'footsies', an inexpensive sock that
women
use to try on shoes. It is very labor intensive, and won't work well with fruit
like
cherries that grow in clusters. It also has the benefit of temporary protection
from
rabbits who would otherwise chew on fallen fruit. The bags also can protect
against
certain insect penetration, if you can get them on early enough in the fruit's
development.

I keep my yard almost squirrel free by trap and release methods. It takes a few

seasons to reduce the population, but in succesive years you only find a few
stragglers moving into your yard.


Sherwin D.
James wrote:

I got the netting but it get all tangled up with my shirt buttons and
is impossible to get over the tree. It's almost invisible.

There are at least 4 squirrels dinning on my pears. I only got 4
Bartlet left on the tree so I can just wrap them. I had just thin the
Asian pears and right after the squirrels thin them a whole lot more.
Was going to shoot them up they are young ones and I didn't have the
heart.