Kitchen Garden Forum

I have a Brown Turkey Fig on the lottie which is flourishing and was loaded with fruit the size of a small hens egg. Having been away from the lottie for just over as week I was surprised on my return today to find most of the fruit had disappeared. No sign of any disturbance to the tree, if it had been animals I am sure the foliage would have at least been damaged in some way- no foot prints etc. and no fruits on the ground.
Could it be the two legged variety I wonder? or some other reason.
We do have squirrels could they be the culprits? the fruit is still very hard.

Beryl.

Dear Beryl, at one of the gardens i tend, Squirrels have been taking the plums for the last couple of years, but this year the owner of the garden caught them stripping raspberries.

So i wonder if it might be Squirrels!

It must be very annoying for you Beryl.

If you have squirrels in the vicinity, they could well be the culprits. I caught one in our front garden the other day having a close inspection of my gooseberry bushes. Virtually all the fruit has now been picked from them but they do seem to have quite a varied appetite .

This is totally irrelevant but it has just reminded me of somebody I knew vaguely some years ago. She and her husband knew nothing about gardening, having previously lived in a flat, but told me they'd just moved into a house which had a walnut tree so they were going to pick the green walnuts and pickle them ready for Christmas. Unfortunately the walnut tree turned out to be a fig tree so I can't imagine what the end result tasted like.

Many thanks for all you comments. I guess it must be the squirrels.

Now the next question. How do I protect the remaining fruit?
knowing what cunning little devils they are, would net bags over each fruit be sufficient? No way could I net the whole tree.

I really thought this year I would get to taste my own figs for the first time. I'm sure I am only gardening to feed the wild life.

Any ideas gratefully received.
Thanks
Beryl.

Squirrels are great jumpers and I don't know how high off the ground your first branches are or how thick the trunk of your tree is but I'm wondering whether it would be possible to fit some kind of "wide curled collar" around the trunk which curled outwards at the top, thus preventing the squirrels being able to clamber out from underneath it to reach the upper parts of the tree..
If you had a really old umbrella you were prepared to sacrifice, opened it up, and slit one panel open so that the handle could be tied to the trunk with the umbrella open upside down, that might possible deter them prevent them from reaching the fruit. . But having watched the antics of squirrels on various nature programmes figuring out all kinds of hurdles and circus tricks set up to challenge their intelligence, it might not be long before they figured their way round the problem.

Was in a garden centre today when I saw them selling Gardman Squirrel bafflers at the horrendous price of £19.99. They seem to be sold to protect bird feeders against squirrels but don't know whether it would work to protect the trunk of your fig free. You can get them online at http://www.theonlinegardener.com/produc ... od=1015277 but I'm sure ssome immaginative person on here could come up with a cheaper DIY version.

Thanks for the suggestions Primrose but I don't really think they would work for me. My tree is more of fan trained bush about 7ft tall, the branches are quite low.
Actually its looking quite decorative now the birds are eating the blackberries and pooping all over it.
Don't somehow think I am going to win this one.

Regards
Beryl.

Dear Beryl, i know this is going to sound silly but, how about if you were able to fill a couple of figs with mustard and dangle them temptingly for the squirrels to get, it may put them off.

It won't look very decorative but could you cover it over with fleece?

It may well be only a single squirrel that is causing the damage. I dont think you'll ever deter it with fancy baffles and patent anti-squirrel devices. Have you thought about trapping it? Squirrel traps are available to buy.

No squirrel attacks here, but fingers crossed we seem to be heading for a record fig crop this year. There's a possible lesson for me here - going by the book, I was very late in pruning the fig and stripping off the unripe green ones last year, and wondered if I had left it too late for the embryo fruits to form. Maybe global warming/milder autumns mean you should leave it later.
And speaking of wildlife damage...we too have just got back from a few days away to find birds had got into the fruit cage. It looks as thoughwe've still got plenty of raspberries to pick, but they've stripped the red currants. And we've almost given up on a young Czar plum tree - pigeons attack it every year, eating the plums when tey are hardly bigger than peas, chewing at the young foliage, and breaking new growth off with their weight. Infuriating!

Thanks for all your suggestions - the mustard sounds interesting OH.
I was given a tip today Advocado skins, apparently they are poisonous to squirrels. Not one of my favourites but I will give it a try, hung in the tree they will look like a fig, and maybe the mustard too. Kill or cure.

Fleece is not really an option the foxes will shredd it pieces.

Thanks again
Beryl.