Anyone who grows fruit knows that it is a race between the orchardist and the birds, rabbits, squirrels and bugs as to who gets to actually eat the fruit.
This is assuming that the weather cooperated in the spring and the tree (or bush as the case may be) actually set fruit and did not get it frozen off after fruit set. It also assumes that you have sufficient pollinators present to accomplish the fruit set. And that the trees got enough water the fall before, and there was enough nutrient in the area to support fruit development, and that the trees were pruned properly, etc. etc. ad nauseum.
This year we were lucky enough to have lots of fruit set on both the wild plums and the Shiro plum tree, a delightful little dwarf we planted in front of the vineyard. It has a companion, a Santa Rosa plum, which is supposed to be a cross pollinator with the Shiro. From what I have observed, it either is not, or it is terribly homesick for Santa Rosa and just can’t bring itself to have any fruit.
The Shiro plum has been harvested, and we got several gallons of plums off it. We have been enjoying eating them, and I have cut and frozen some for future reference as breakfast smoothies.
Anyway, the problem with all the competitors for the fruit in an orchard is they don’t really care whether the fruit is actually ripe when they start eating it. I do, and so I would like to have it stay on the tree as long as possible before I pick it. This means that for several weeks you have to discourage the other diners from ravaging your crop.
If you go to the blueberry farm, they have big floating helium balloons that look like the eye in the sky, fake snakes scattered about the place (rather startling when you come across a “boa constrictor” draped across the blueberry bush you are picking on). They have fake owls, sound systems that emit tapes of distressed starling babies at earsplitting volume, and shiny tape tied to branches. The combination of all this seems to discourage the birds.
This year, when our beautiful little plum was covered in fruit, as depicted in the opening photo, we noticed that the robins had decided to augment their diet of mulberries and worms with Shiro plum. So, we decorated the little tree with several streamers of “holographic” plastic wrapping paper. The result was that for long enough for the plums to actually ripen, the shiny and rustling decoration managed to keep them off the plums. Hence our splendid harvest.
One year in California, the Santa Rosa plum there was chosen as the nesting place by a grackle. She apparently didn’t care for fruit, but she also did not think that any other creatures should be in her tree. That year there was a bumper crop of plums off that tree.
Personally, I think hiring a grackle sounds like a splendid idea. I also think that if you had a coterie of little girls who had a daily tea party with their dolls out in your orchard, that might keep the birds out of the fruit too.
Meanwhile, we are using the sparkly tape, and getting the netting system we used last year installed on the grapes.
Wish us luck. We’d like to have some wine this year!
What about some cats resting on the branches of the trees?
Nan’s fat lazy tomcat was (unwillingly) very good scaring birds away. He was scouting for his bird dinner from the little bird feeding house in the rowan outside the kitchen window. He never understood why all the birds left as soon as he walked out. They were all there when he watched from the kitchen window…
Plum preserve… umm…
I like the cat idea. But. How do you train them to stay where they will do you the most good and at the same time not eat the wrens and other but eaters that you want roaming around?
Good Luck with your grapes. Your plums look beautiful.
I was very successful with beating the birds to my raspberries this year only because each morning I would go out and pick the newly ripened fruit. I had to collect for several days before I had enough to do something with but it was worth it.
I remember the sparkly streamers on all the almond orchards in California, so it must work! Though we had a friend in Sacramento who had to use netting over her backyard cherry tree. I imagine a grackle would keep similar birds, like starlings, away.
That grackle kept ALL other birds away, not to mention cats and any people who were unwary enough to walk too close. She was very territorial.
I love the nesting idea. I will put nestboxes for owls and jays all over my garden, then. And why not nests for cats too…
There are two other techniques I want to try when my fruit trees are old enough:
- I have bought fruit frees for which the rootstock is a very hardy tree, which is supposed to grow ten meters in height and seven meters in diameter. When that happens, maybe we can share with the birds: the top half, where the ladder does not reach, is for them; the bottom half for us.
- I have hedgerows around my garden with at least six large elderberry trees producing huge clusters of juicy berries. The birds love them, and we do not need more than one or two jars of jam each year for ourselves, so they can eat those, be protected from cats in the hedgerow, and not be hungry for our fruits.
My neighbour’s had success at bird-scaring this year by hanging redundant cd s around his garden. They twirl around on the end of their strings, reflecting light in random directions.
I was excited, earlier this week, to spot my second ever wren under a hedgerow when I was out walking. The only live wren I’ve previously seen was in one of the Palm Houses at Kew gardens.
Wrens are apparently very common over here – but also rather secretive. I had a grin on my face for the rest of the day.
This year, I’ll be keeping a keen eye on the cob-nut tree – in an effort to harvest the nuts before the squirrels beat me to it. Grr.
Mandarine, the elderberry idea is excellent. The mulberry trees serve a similar purpose here, but their fruit does not produce long enough to protect the plums at the end of the harvest. The other problem for us here is, birds are not dumb. They know plums are much better tasting than mulberries.
Let me know how the top/bottom sharing plan goes. I suspect you may discover that the birds do not understand the concept. Part of the reason we have planted dwarf trees is that they are easier to net, but this year we didn’t have t.
Teuchter, congratulations on spotting the wren. They are very secretive, unless they have decided to use the nest box in your garden. Then they are vociferous in their defense of territory and not averse to reading you the riot act every time you have the gall to go out and weed, water or harvest.
Grr indeed. I hate tree rats. Right now they are eating the partially ripe side of the ripening apples, and leaving the rest to rot. I’m about to tie Ruby out there to see if she can keep them off. I’ve heard the squirrel stew is very good. . .