Netting or a cage around the tree.

Granolamom,

I never got any fruit from any of my fruit trees because of the squirrels. I bought bird netting and put it on the trees and so far for a couple of years I'm getting fruit.

I would suggest that if your tree is large to put two large nets on it instead of one. I've been using one per tree and while I've kept my fruit they have turned out small. I just made a post about it and realize from "Fruitnut's" advice that I'm crowding the fruit and not letting enough sun in.

One other thing I've found is that if the squirrels can't get the fruit they will go after everything and anything else you have planted...little buggers!

I haven't had problems with birds on pears, only squirrels. I have too many trees to net so I have been trapping and shooting the squirrels, and that method does seem to work.

Scott

I tried that Scott...but I have 3 small dogs..2 chi's one pug who go into a panic when they hear gun shots. One chi gets so bad I have to give him valium. Which is why I spent soooo much money netting the trees.

Now if they start tearing the netting, which I've been told they do I might have to stock up on the valium.

If you are in a place where you can use a .22 then you can use an air rifle, which is obviously much quieter than a .22. It makes a loud "PFFTT" and is quite enough for a squirrel. I find a CO2 pistol to be marginal, so I'd recommend going for the rifle.

Cheaper than valium in the long run!

Good luck,

M

my dh is itching to shoot those squirrels. the pear tree is directly in line with the neighbors swingset so I won't let him incase he misses and hits one of their kids. the kids aren't even annoying, so that'd be a shame. just kidding.

but he's a good shot, so maybe that's what we'll do.

I bought a net last year but couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get it over the tree.

Put out a pile of food for the squirrels that is in a safe location for shooting and fire away with the pellet gun. I shot pellets as a kid and the guns these days are in a different league -- I have a fancy scope and 1000+fps on my gun, and I am about 75% kills at 50'.

Scott

Not a permanent solution, but a very satisfying one that I have discovered, is hosing them down--they absoultely HATE getting all wet. I bought a long-range hose nozzle and keep it ready to go by my door, and I now give them a shower from my birdfeeder to all the way up into the tippy-top of my neighbor's walnut tree. They actually have been coming into the yard less and less since I started giving them "baths", and they now even leave the walnut tree and take off when they see me coming.

Carla in Sac

I trap them and haul them to a cemetary or a park, each a mile or so away. I dyed one red with food color once to make sure I wasn't getting them back. Not sure what people thought of a reddish squirrel in the park, but I never saw him again. I throw some sunflower seeds out where I leave them to keep them attached to the place for a day or so.