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nafex - Re: [nafex] how to tell if apples are ripe?

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  • From: Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>
  • To: nafex mailing list at ibiblio <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>, nafex mailing list at ibiblio <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [nafex] how to tell if apples are ripe?
  • Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2012 18:47:33 -0400

I live on 1/3 of an acre in the burbs, so killing squirrels is difficult. I
bagged for a couple of years, but this spring it became clear that the bags
are a big flag to the wildlife that something yummy is inside.

Bags did help for a year or two, but then the squirrels started chewing
through the bags, and later they learned to removed them. This year I only
bagged a handful of apples, and they were the only ones eaten early in the
season.

Curiously, not only did the squirrels leave me some apples, but those apples
are completely clean, despite no treatment except some spinosad very early in
the season for winter moths.
--
Ginda

Typed with Swype. Who knows what I intended to say?

sherwin <sherwindu@att.net> wrote:

On 8/26/2012 4:43 PM, Ginda Fisher wrote:
> I have a Jonathan apple tree with about 2 dozen large apples hanging
from it. This is a very unusual occurrence, as squirrels have removed
all the fruit by mid-August in every recent year.
>
> How can I tell when to pick them? Probably I should pick some now,
even if they aren't fully ripe, just to get some apples. You never know
what critter will take an interest in the tree tomorrow, after all.
>
> Thanks,
> Ginda
> eastern MA, zone 6
>
Ginda,

No guarantees, but putting ziplock bags around the apples may slow
down or stop the critters. It
works somewhat, for me. If I have some fruits of special value, I
will wind some additional cheap
bird netting around them.

If you are having such big squirrel problems, I would go for an
elimination program. Active trapping
is the key here. This season, I have gone from two removals per
day down to one every two or three
days. Yes, some others will move back in, but you can keep the
numbers down

Sherwin Dubren
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