Re: [gardeners] Apricot thieves!
Ron Hay (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Wed, 21 Jun 2000 07:31:32 -0700
Thanks, George, I will do that this morning, before work, and reinflate it a bit.
Seems to be working well, so far.
Anaylyzing the situation while working at the pc at home yesterday, I have
discovered: ripe fruit falls to the ground, and opportunistic squirrels come looking
for it, but leave quickly when they look up and find the snake:)
We enjoyed about a dozen smallish apricots between the two of us at breakfast today,
our first crop of any size on this 2-y.o. tree:)
Ron
George Shirley wrote:
> Ron: You will need to move your snake every few days or the squirrels will catch
> on that its a fake. I've even used old pieces of hose, old fan belts, etc.
> Anything that looks remotely like a snake. They work for awhile and then the
> squirrels figure it out.
>
> George
>
> Ron Hay wrote:
> >
> > Hello, Seana,
> >
> > The snake appears to be working. When I popped in at home from the office this
> > afternoon, there were entire ripe apricots lying on the ground at the base of
> > the tree, which I rescued and brought into the house. My wife has been on a
> > business trip to San Francisco, and will be delighted to find some of her
> > favorite fruit, whole and ripe, which she can enjoy with breakfast tomorrow.
> >
> > Thanks for sharing your story of the rascally varmints!
> >
> > Ron
> >
> > Seana Ames wrote:
> >
> > > Ron, I am so sorry! I can imagine your disapointment. I have been
> > > following the saga of THE APRICOT THEIVES! Your story brought back Easter
> > > memories. Our first Easter in CO., I was "woken by the kids" only to find
> > > that THE SQUIRRELS had absonded with the candy from the plastic eggs & eaten
> > > our beautifully decorated, hard boiled eggs, too! (The Hogs!) I was
> > > somewhat dismayed, having taken the trouble to be out at o'dark thirty to
> > > play Easter Bunny & then sneaking back to bed before the kids woke. It was
> > > such a beautiful spring day with the sun shining throught the trees & all
> > > the bulbs up & blooming. I had artistically hidden the eggs, mapping them &
> > > color cordinating them, of course, among the flowers, so they would be hard
> > > to find. All we found were a few wrappers, plastic shells & colored egg
> > > shell bits. I was imagining squirrel dinner for Easter at that point but
> > > now I laugh about it. We knew not to let the dogs out there alone but had
> > > never lived where there were squirrels before. I hope your Snake is Big &
> > > Bad & scares them away - whatever THEY are! Good luck!
> > >
> > > Seana
> > >
> > > > Ron Hay wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > Help! This is the first year we have had any signifucant number of
> > > > > apricots on our tree, and all of a sudden, as they ripen, predators
> > > > > strike at the crack of dawn. They may be birds, although I rather
> > > > > suspect they are squirrels, since some of the pits are gnawed a bit,
> > > and
> > > > > there are no real peck marks on the interior of the fruits.
> > > > >
> > > > > Any suggestions?
> > > > >
> > > > > I am about to go out with my fruit picking pole to harvest whatever I
> > > > > can, to let the fruit ripen in the house.
> > > > >
> > > > > Ron
> > >
> > > ________________________________________________________________________
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