|
Strawberries - Who's Been Pinching 'Em?
Hi, Everybody,
It happened again this morning. One of my strawberry plants had an alllllmost ripe fruit, which would make my morning treat. I have seven strawberry plants, so they will soon be able to yield more than one ripe fruit at a time. But... Gone! Again! In a quick search, I couldn't find any dropped fruits or crumbs. The stem was just broken off right below where the fruit was. This is about the third time this has happened My current suspect is... Birds(?) If that is the big danger, perhaps I could hang up some surplus CDs to scare them away(?) Thanks for suggestions... -- Get Credit Where Credit Is Due http://www.cardreport.com/ Credit Tools, Reference, and Forum |
In article ,
Antipodean Bucket Farmer wrote: Hi, Everybody, It happened again this morning. One of my strawberry plants had an alllllmost ripe fruit, which would make my morning treat. I have seven strawberry plants, so they will soon be able to yield more than one ripe fruit at a time. But... Gone! Again! In a quick search, I couldn't find any dropped fruits or crumbs. The stem was just broken off right below where the fruit was. This is about the third time this has happened My current suspect is... Birds(?) If that is the big danger, perhaps I could hang up some surplus CDs to scare them away(?) Thanks for suggestions... Bird netting... Cheap and effective. Might be a neighbor too. Get a big dog!!!! -- K. Sprout the Mung Bean to reply... ,,Cat's Haven Hobby Farm,,Katraatcenturyteldotnet,, http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...user id=katra |
In article ,
Antipodean Bucket Farmer wrote: Hi, Everybody, It happened again this morning. One of my strawberry plants had an alllllmost ripe fruit, which would make my morning treat. I have seven strawberry plants, so they will soon be able to yield more than one ripe fruit at a time. But... Gone! Again! In a quick search, I couldn't find any dropped fruits or crumbs. The stem was just broken off right below where the fruit was. This is about the third time this has happened My current suspect is... Birds(?) If that is the big danger, perhaps I could hang up some surplus CDs to scare them away(?) Thanks for suggestions... Bird netting... Cheap and effective. Might be a neighbor too. Get a big dog!!!! -- K. Sprout the Mung Bean to reply... ,,Cat's Haven Hobby Farm,,Katraatcenturyteldotnet,, http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...user id=katra |
"Antipodean Bucket Farmer" wrote in message ... Hi, Everybody, It happened again this morning. One of my strawberry plants had an alllllmost ripe fruit, which would make my morning treat. I have seven strawberry plants, so they will soon be able to yield more than one ripe fruit at a time. But... Gone! Again! In a quick search, I couldn't find any dropped fruits or crumbs. The stem was just broken off right below where the fruit was. This is about the third time this has happened My current suspect is... Birds(?) If that is the big danger, perhaps I could hang up some surplus CDs to scare them away(?) Several years ago, I had that problem with my tomatoes. I later caught my neighbor stealing the tomatoes. Some neighbor, eh? Ray |
"Antipodean Bucket Farmer" wrote in message ... Hi, Everybody, It happened again this morning. One of my strawberry plants had an alllllmost ripe fruit, which would make my morning treat. I have seven strawberry plants, so they will soon be able to yield more than one ripe fruit at a time. But... Gone! Again! In a quick search, I couldn't find any dropped fruits or crumbs. The stem was just broken off right below where the fruit was. This is about the third time this has happened My current suspect is... Birds(?) If that is the big danger, perhaps I could hang up some surplus CDs to scare them away(?) Several years ago, I had that problem with my tomatoes. I later caught my neighbor stealing the tomatoes. Some neighbor, eh? Ray |
"Katra" wrote in message ... In article , Antipodean Bucket Farmer wrote: Hi, Everybody, It happened again this morning. One of my strawberry plants had an alllllmost ripe fruit, which would make my morning treat. I have seven strawberry plants, so they will soon be able to yield more than one ripe fruit at a time. But... Gone! Again! In a quick search, I couldn't find any dropped fruits or crumbs. The stem was just broken off right below where the fruit was. This is about the third time this has happened My current suspect is... Birds(?) If that is the big danger, perhaps I could hang up some surplus CDs to scare them away(?) Thanks for suggestions... Bird netting... Cheap and effective. Might be a neighbor too. Get a big dog!!!! Or, get a good electric fence and space wires about three inches apart above the strawberries. It's not like you have much ground to cover. Ray |
"Katra" wrote in message ... In article , Antipodean Bucket Farmer wrote: Hi, Everybody, It happened again this morning. One of my strawberry plants had an alllllmost ripe fruit, which would make my morning treat. I have seven strawberry plants, so they will soon be able to yield more than one ripe fruit at a time. But... Gone! Again! In a quick search, I couldn't find any dropped fruits or crumbs. The stem was just broken off right below where the fruit was. This is about the third time this has happened My current suspect is... Birds(?) If that is the big danger, perhaps I could hang up some surplus CDs to scare them away(?) Thanks for suggestions... Bird netting... Cheap and effective. Might be a neighbor too. Get a big dog!!!! Or, get a good electric fence and space wires about three inches apart above the strawberries. It's not like you have much ground to cover. Ray |
il Wed, 22 Dec 2004 20:32:47 -0800, Antipodean Bucket Farmer ha
scritto: Hi, Everybody, It happened again this morning. One of my strawberry plants had an alllllmost ripe fruit, which would make my morning treat. I have seven strawberry plants, so they will soon be able to yield more than one ripe fruit at a time. But... Gone! Again! In a quick search, I couldn't find any dropped fruits or crumbs. The stem was just broken off right below where the fruit was. This is about the third time this has happened My current suspect is... Birds(?) If that is the big danger, perhaps I could hang up some surplus CDs to scare them away(?) Thanks for suggestions... Bird netting. We have a strawberry farm here that has netting over a giant paddock. Must be several hectares. Like a giant avary. You may notice blackbirds hop along the ground and dig around a bit. Same with thrushes altho they eat snails more. I can often hear them bashing a snail against the concrete footpath. Birds can murder little seedling too, altho a half cut plastic bottle works ok. Put the slug bait inside too. -- Cheers, Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ] |
il Wed, 22 Dec 2004 20:32:47 -0800, Antipodean Bucket Farmer ha
scritto: Hi, Everybody, It happened again this morning. One of my strawberry plants had an alllllmost ripe fruit, which would make my morning treat. I have seven strawberry plants, so they will soon be able to yield more than one ripe fruit at a time. But... Gone! Again! In a quick search, I couldn't find any dropped fruits or crumbs. The stem was just broken off right below where the fruit was. This is about the third time this has happened My current suspect is... Birds(?) If that is the big danger, perhaps I could hang up some surplus CDs to scare them away(?) Thanks for suggestions... Bird netting. We have a strawberry farm here that has netting over a giant paddock. Must be several hectares. Like a giant avary. You may notice blackbirds hop along the ground and dig around a bit. Same with thrushes altho they eat snails more. I can often hear them bashing a snail against the concrete footpath. Birds can murder little seedling too, altho a half cut plastic bottle works ok. Put the slug bait inside too. -- Cheers, Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ] |
If it is birds, they are attracted by the red berries (as we are).
Suggestion: Go to a novelty store and buy some plastic strawberries, (red marbles will do) and place them around the vines before the fruit begins to ripen. The local birds will ignore the red fruit as it ripens. (not a 100%, but it helps) On 23 Dec 2004 22:24:56 +1300, "Loki" wrote: il Wed, 22 Dec 2004 20:32:47 -0800, Antipodean Bucket Farmer ha scritto: Hi, Everybody, It happened again this morning. One of my strawberry plants had an alllllmost ripe fruit, which would make my morning treat. I have seven strawberry plants, so they will soon be able to yield more than one ripe fruit at a time. But... Gone! Again! In a quick search, I couldn't find any dropped fruits or crumbs. The stem was just broken off right below where the fruit was. This is about the third time this has happened My current suspect is... Birds(?) If that is the big danger, perhaps I could hang up some surplus CDs to scare them away(?) Thanks for suggestions... Bird netting. We have a strawberry farm here that has netting over a giant paddock. Must be several hectares. Like a giant avary. You may notice blackbirds hop along the ground and dig around a bit. Same with thrushes altho they eat snails more. I can often hear them bashing a snail against the concrete footpath. Birds can murder little seedling too, altho a half cut plastic bottle works ok. Put the slug bait inside too. |
My current suspect is... Birds(?) If that is the big danger, perhaps I could hang up some surplus CDs to scare them away(?) CDs make excellent bird scarers: a string across the bed, and the CDs hanging on another string about a foot or so long. They catch the sun as they turn in the breeze, and birds hate it. Good luck! Garry -- http://pigstyave.blogspot.com/ |
"Ray Drouillard" writes:
Or, get a good electric fence and space wires about three inches apart above the strawberries. It's not like you have much ground to cover. Or, just space three strands of black cotton thread (thin sewing thread) about 4 inches above each row of plants. The birds don't see the thread and take fright when they bump into it. Keep the threads taut between stick supports pushed into the soil. My Dad used this to keep the sparrows from devastating his lettuce crops, and I reckon it should work for the bigger birds, too. -- John Savage (my news address is not valid for email) |
| All times are GMT +1. The time now is 03:27 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
GardenBanter