[Sca-cooks] fruit trees

[John Kemker]

Having been the property of several hunting felines, I must warn you 
that cats don't really put much of a dent into a squirrel population.  
Cats don't climb trees as much as we might think they do.  Mostly they 
stalk on the ground.  This is good if you're trying to keep 
ground-squirrels and moles down, but not so great if you're trying to 
keep red or grey tree-rats down.

If you want an effective method of keeping the tree-rat population down, 
get yourself a good .22 rifle make Brunswick Stew with the results.  [grin]

--Cian
Who *likes* squirrels.  In Brunswick Stew.

Huette von Ahrens wrote:

>--- Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com> wrote:
>
>  
>
>>Huette commented:
>>    
>>
>>>Our apricot trees just produced the best
>>>crop ever.  And our little
>>>ultra-dwarf peach produced a dozen normal sized sweet, luscious
>>>peaches.  Our neighbors white
>>>peach tree which is hanging more and more over the fence is overloaded
>>>with succulent white
>>>peaches, so sweet and juicy and ripe off the tree ... so much better
>>>tasting than anything the grocery store ever provides.
>>>      
>>>
>>Do you have problems with birds? If so, how do you solve this?
>>
>>When I had a peach tree at our other house, the birds would poke holes 
>>in the fruit. I would have been willing to share if they'd done this to 
>>just a few peaches or eat most of a peach. But they would poke a hole 
>>in one fruit and then go on to another, and another...
>>    
>>
>
>Some bird problems, but not apparently as bad as yours.  Our biggest problem is squirrels.
>They find the ripest, biggest, most luscious fruit, eat half of the fruit, throw it down and then
>go for another.  I am debating about adopting an outdoor cat, even though I am allergic to
>them.  But at leat they don't deliberately eat fruit.  I wonder what kind of cat would go
>after squirrels?  As far as I am concerned, squirrels are just rats in fluffy clothing with
>better PR.  Fortunately, our apricot trees overproduce so that our losses don't affect us
>too much.  My little peach tree wasn't bothered by birds and the squirrels didn't find it
>until I had harvested all but two peaches.  I am not sure that the squirrels have found
>my neighbor's peach tree yet as the peaches aren't ripe yet. 
>
>I haven't found any effective bird and squirrel deterrents.  My mother used to cover the ultra
>dwarf peach tree with cheesecloth, but that really didn't do any good.  The apricot trees
>are 40' and 30' tall.  There isn't much one can do to protect such large trees.  Other than
>perhaps a squirrel stalking cat.  Hmmm ... I should look into hawks and owls too, although
>they probably wouldn't like living in an urban area.
>
>Huette   
>
>
>Remember that while money talks, chocolate sings.
>
>
>		
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