Protecting Your Fruit Trees from Animal Damage
Critter-Repellent.com Staff • August 13, 2020
Don't Let Your Fruit Trees Become the Victims of Pesty Animal Damage
The prospect of a quickly approaching fall has much of the country dreaming of mulled cider and apple pie. Summer has seen the rise of peaches, pears, cherries, and many citrus fruits. As much as these seasonal treats can help fill out a meal or midday snack, humankind is not the only species which loves to harvest those delectable, seasonal fruits. Many animals also find themselves drawn to a well-raised fruit tree, making animal pestilence extend from the garden to your trees. What can you do to keep your fruit harvest yours? Let’s explore a few options you have when safeguarding your fruit trees from animal damage.
Install decoys
- Thankfully for the sanctity of your fruit gardens, many animals that are nimble enough to find their way up to the fruits of your trees are prey animals, making them susceptible to survival instincts that can be triggered by decoys of their predators. Hawks, eagles, owls, and snakes are all common decoys that can be installed in or around your fruit trees that will help deter squirrels, chipmunks, and other climbing rodents from snacking on your orchard trees. Unfortunately, sometimes these clever critters discover that your faux predators are not a real threat, rendering the decoys ineffective to protect your fruit trees.
Build a fence or other physical barrier
- For larger animals such as deer and even bears, a well installed fence can provide enough protection for your fruit trees. In areas where small mammals do not disrupt your fruit trees as heavily, a fence – solid or wireframe – is often enough to keep pest animals from helping themselves. These fences, however, do not pose much stopping power to the likes of squirrels or determined raccoons, making the physical demand of installing a fence less worthwhile if small animals are also feasting on your fruits.
Utilize kaolin clay repellents
- Kaolin clay is highly effective against animals consuming your fruits. This effectiveness is, however, because the clay is incredibly hard to wash off and comes with an especially unpleasant taste to animals – birds, most insects, mammals both large and small: including humans. Due to the resilience of kaolin clay repellents, should you choose to use them, you will need to thoroughly wash every fruit before consumption. Clay repellents are not fit for small or soft-skinned fruits such as cherries, peaches, or nectarines.
Increase your family’s activity in the area
- Regularly letting your dog out for a run nearby the fruit trees which are being affected by pest animals can help deter those animals from coming back. A dog still registers as a predator to many wild prey animals and having one marking territory near food sources makes the trees less attractive to the pests. Having family time in the immediate vicinity works in the same way, most animals won’t challenge humans to feeding grounds, meaning that the more often your family is making noise and scent-marking the area, the less likely other animals are to approach in search of fresh fruit. The downside to this strategy is that vigilance must be used in order to assure that you’re not accidentally leaving food scraps out that may instead attract pests to your yard.
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