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Something has taken all my apples !

chickychicky Posts: 10,409

We have four young apple trees (this is their second year).  One had about 10 apples forming on it til two days ago.  Now they have all disappeared !  We are plagued by deer, but the trees are fenced off - and there seems to be no other signs of deer damage (normally they would remove a few leaves for good measure).  Any ideas what else could have taken them ?  We have squirrels, mice, wood pigeons who could all be responsible, but I would have expected them to wait until they were a bit larger and riper.

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  • yakramyakram Posts: 20

    Saw a squirrel eating an apple last evening which it had picked from the adjoining neighbour's tree.  They like them just big enough to carry in their mouth.

  • paull2paull2 Posts: 93

    Squirrels most likely.

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384

    My money is on squirrels, too.  This thread has reminded me to pick my hazlenuts early this year - last year the squirrels took the lot in one day.  The only ones I got to eat were those I found buried in pots and borders!  They steal enough from the bird feeders over the cold months for me not to feel guilty about them going hungry.

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • The DoctorThe Doctor Posts: 177

    I hate grey squirrels! the only way i like to observe them is through cross-hairs.

  • chickychicky Posts: 10,409

    Many thanks for the replies - seems like squirrels are likely to be the culprits.

    Any ideas how to stop it next year ?  I have never heard of people not being able to grow apples because they have squirrels - most of us have at least a couple in the garden.

  • sotongeoffsotongeoff Posts: 9,802

    Other than building a cage or some other barrier-there is little you can do-it is something you have to live with I'm afraid

  • BookertooBookertoo Posts: 1,306

    This is why my eating apples are on the wall as espaliers in a fruit cage - the b******y squirrels would have the lot otherwise, plus anything else we try and grow, and all the bird seed and food - oh how I wish there was a good answer to them, and also the flying rats some people call pigeons.

  • Jag3Jag3 Posts: 7

    Three years ago we went away for a weekend. When I returned my dwarf macintosh apple tree was stripped of over 50 apples ripe'n ready. No leaf damage. No deer tracks. No apples on the ground. And no apples taken from an adjacent macoun apple tree which was not quite as ready as the macs. Now I too am cursed with squirrels but in my experience, they are not very neat and would have left some half eaten apples near the tree as they have with my elberta peaches. It has been a mystery all these years for me and I would welcome any other suggestions. Terrible apple crop this year maybe due to the unseasonably early spring we had here in New England. I possibly didn't get the insect spray going early enough. Thanks, Jag3

  • BookertooBookertoo Posts: 1,306

    Having a nsty and suspicious mind, and  a  feeling that where there are no signs of evidence of squirrles etc, my mind springs to people?

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