Dang Vermin! Stole all the plums! Grrr....

[CalG]

Two days ago I went out and had a look at the Japanese Yellow Plum tree. The laden tree just needed a day or two for the fruit to ripen...enough.

Yesterday we had a substantial rain, over an inch, so didn't pick the fruit.

Today, the wife and I went out to gather in the plums.

There were less than a dozen fruits on the tree! And most of those are small and un-ripe!

All I can see are a couple of pits and a scat or two that I can't say what dropped it due to the rain.

The red plum next to it ... will it be stripped like the last.?????

Dis appointment!

Gonna need to buy a game cam.

eta I have been brutal on the tree rats with the air gun. at least 15 confirmed kills. I'm thinking SKUNK!

 

[DarkBlack]

Never seen a tree climbing skunk before.

 

[CalG]

Never seen a climbing skunk before.

yup!

 

[ponytug]

@CalG Sorry that you missed out on your plums!

Raccoons have stripped our plum in a single night.

Between the jays, tree rats, and raccoons, we have had to go netting surrounded by electric net fencing.

All the best,

Peter

 

[DarkBlack]

Ok, but I’d suspect other animals climbing your trees taking plums before I’d blame a skunk.
I’ve got 6 plum trees dropping ripe fruit right now. Deer have been hitting my orchard pretty bad at night. Mostly taking peaches, apples and pears. My plums have been getting attacked mostly by bald faced hornets.

 

[oosik]

At one time - in the distant past - we had apples, peaches, apricots and cherries. Everything was just great until the trees began bearing fruit.

The deer got the low fruit - the racoons got the remainder. The deer would stand up on their hind legs to reach as high as possible.

A funny sight. The adult coons sending their young out the small branches to knock down the fruit.

The skunks never climbed a tree. They didn't have to. Just pick up all the fruit laying on the ground that the others had missed.

 

[Jstpssng]

I have 2 grape vines but never got anything from them as the wildlife got them first.
Then I built my henhouse, with an enclosed pen about 10 feet from the trellis. For some reason nothing has bothered the grapes since. Now the chickens are gone and the trellis collapsed. I'm not sure if I'll get grapes or not this year.

 

[oosik]

My wife thought it was fun to watch the raccoons and deer in the fruit trees. It was - "Annie get your gun" - when she saw the chipmunks in her strawberries. Man - I dare not even crack a smile.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

Racoons are plum crazy, as in eating all our plums too! pun intended.
5 of them can strip a row of about 30 cobs in an hour.

 

[oosik]

The coons never got in our corn. Too busy eating all our fruit. For some ukn reason - one time the blackbirds ravaged the corn. Made me so mad - I picked all the corn - cut off the area where they had pecked. Cut the good stuff off the cob - blanched and froze it all.

The blackbirds came back the following day. HA - there was nothing for them to peck.