Soon after we moved onto this property last February, we discovered a beautiful flowering tree in our front/side yard. We took a sample and a pic to a local nursery who told us it was an ornamental pear tree. Boy, were they wrong. See the pic to the right? That's our actual cherry tree, laden with cherries, 2 days before it got attacked.By the time we figured out it was a cherry tree, the fruits were there one day, and almost completely devoured the next day by birds. We did everything we could think of:
- scaring them away by hollering and yelling and clapping our hands
- netting the tree (it is too tall)
- tying aluminum pie pans to branches to scare them off (again, tree too tall and birds didn't care)
We did manage to grab a few cherries before they all disappeared, but we have a plan this year! The very day that we notice the cherries forming, we'll keep a close eye on the tree. And the very second that we find one with the blush of red on it, we'll start to harvest. Waiting even one day will be too late.
Again, this is applicable to this blog because birds can really kill our crops. They love fruit trees, corn crops, and surprisingly enough, tomatoes. Preparing for the bird invasion will help us gather cherries for preserving, dehydrating and seed-saving for cherry trees at our next house.
Plus, as we grow the cherry trees at the next place, we'll tie the aluminum pie pans on the branches as they grow!
3 comments:
You have a problem there, since the tree wasn't properly pruned when young. Commercial growers like to prune their trees to keep them shorter and easier to harvest. Bird netting is the normal answer, but it isn't going to work there.
A cat that is a good birder is a great help - the tree becomes a cat feeder and there's a lot more ripe fruit on the tree. My mom gets lots of fruit off her trees, and her cats don't bother with cat food for much of the year.
Shiny stuff may scare off some birds, but not all of them and not for long. Harvesting green is not the most tasty solution, but it works and you may be stuck with it.
that was nice to read the blog.. i think u should use bird deterrents and bird repellents that will work... for more information regarding bird control,netting bird ,pest bird control,bird repellent,spike bird u can visit http://www.usabirdcontrol.com
the same problem i am facing with my crops , which are getting damaged by the bats and the birds continuously ..i have used some spike bird products but they are useless and i am continuing suffering the damage.hope these deterrents would work for me...
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