i tried most of the methods you list without success. then i tried rat poison. worked a treat. last year, i lost very few fruit to squirrels. my first year that i got to eat my own damn peaches and nectarines.

As much as a love to eat my own fruit, I love nature way to much to do something like that. When the critter eats the poison, runs off back into the woods and dies, theres a good chance something else is gonna come along and eat it, then it dies and so on, and so on and so on. And if my dog got ahold of the poisoned critter even if it was just to play with it, then he would be dead to. Thanks for the input, but I would cut my trees down before I put out poison. I love to hunt and have killed many of animals for food, but totally against this idea.

Treenutt, your dog will not die if it eats a poisoned rodent. It most certainly would not die if it just "played" with the poisoned rodent. The poison bait used is a type of anticoagulant very similar to Coumadin. The dosage is not high enough to be fatal to your dog, especially since the rodent has already ingested and metabolized the majority of the anticoagulant. And, if your dog did happen to become symptomic (the more likely scenario would be a dog actually getting into the bait, again, highly unlikely if you used bait stations), a quick trip to the vet for an injection of Vitamin K will quickly fix the situation. And, when you've have EVERY SINGLE FRUIT eaten by varmits, you may hold a different opinion of keeping the varmit population down to a reasonable number.

Patty S.

Surely your fruit won't be attractive to coons and rodents until after Easter. Just get the electric fence put up. I haven't had rodent problems with fruit, but have coon problems with corn. If you put up a 3 wire fence around your trees, you should be able to keep the coons out. First wire is attached to the hot side of the fencer and is placed about 4 inches off the ground. Second wire is placed 4 to 6 inches above that and is grounded. If using metal stakes, just wrap it around the stakes to ground it, and you can also connect it to the ground on the fencer. Third wire is 6 inches above that and is connected to the hot side of the fencer again. Coons won't be able to go over, under, or through the wires without getting bit. This probably won't work for squirrels or other smaller rodents as they will be able to go right under.

Keep the area under the wire free of vegetation so it doesn't short out the wires and allows the animal to have good soil contact. Good luck.

Electric is best. Coons can also be stopped by stapling 2.5' of aluminum flashing on the trunk if you have at least 3.5' of branchless trunk from the base of the tree. They need to get claws into wood to pull their fat bodies up.

Only squirrels tend to eat green fruit (besides some birds and cherries, apparently).

My sister, who's a vet in a region of the country with lots of N. rats says secondary poisoning from rat poison is not at all common. Hard for a large animal to get enough poison by eating a much smaller animal.

Hm...that's comforting
How about a large owl...like a Great Horned Owl, this is mostly what I have.
But I don't think they will go after a dad mouse anyway, and if the mouse
is still running with some the anticoagulant in the the body it probably
is not a lethal dose for the bird?

didnt know that about the poison.

There's lots of owls in N. CA where my sister works but this is still all hearsay based on my sisters professional experience, but she's not at all a dispenser of BS (much more careful than me!).

I'm not sure if someone found a dead owl they'd take it in to find out what killed it. A dead eagle would be a different story.

Still lots of people have small dogs and most cats aren't that big. I have to think they'd have plenty of access to recently poisoned rats.

again thanks for the replies. Good point on the rats vs. cats. Maybe just a maybe for now. Only have a week left until i get there, so might take the chance of waiting. Your right, I have poisoned rats, roaches and other insects, no telling where they end up. hmmmm Owls are badazzz so are eagles, would wear me out if I found one of those dead in my orchard (mini) or surroundings, even though it might not have been the poison, it would wear me out.

Coons have a lead deficiency. I've cured four in the last several weeks.

Treenut, I admire your respect for owls and eagles. We do need to protect them but I doubt the poison poses much danger. I'm gonna grill my sister on it next weekend. She lives in far northern CA where most people are very protective of wildlife and there's lots of it.

Good,....I'm up to listen.

The racoons, opossums, and squirrels here have so far neglected to send me any thank-you notes for all the fruit that I unwillingly provide for them. The best pre-emptive action for me has been to start with pruning most fruit trees so that they have a single, straight, branchless trunk for the first 3-1/2 to 4 feet. When they are mature enough to bear fruit, and the fruit become large enough to attract these rodents, I pull out the seasonal aluminum trunk cover. I buy the slit duct at Lowes big enough that it won't be out-diametered by the trunk for a bunch of years. A single wrapping of skinny wire near the top holds the springy tube closed as it stands on the ground surrounding the first several feet of trunk. If there are no nearby branches from other trees to use as bridges/ladders, the rodents will look elsewhere for vittles. The crows, woodpeckers, etc., etc. will then have the fruit to themselves.

CWC, Most rodents can fit through a metal tube that is as loose as you describe. I've used duct pipe also and have to wedge wire inside to stop squirrels from getting in that way. Squirrels can also jump from prone position while clinging to the trunk at least 2' (my wife watched one do it).

I staple aluminum flashing to the trunks because I have to protect hundreds of trees and it's much quicker to use than duct pipe. I haven't made it work for squirrels (great for coons and possums, though) but now I'm thinking it might take 3' of length starting at least a foot above ground.

For the last few years I've used tangle trap in addition to flashing to stop squirrels in many locations but when they are starving they'll go right over the tangle trap, even if some of them leave their tails in the gook.

The 3 foot tall or 4 foot tall duct that I buy is standing on top of the soil or mulch, so rodents can't enter the inside chamber from the bottom. So far, I haven't seen any of these Olympic gymnast rodents display a verticle leap to overcome that tall a section of the duct, but if one comes upon an athlete's stash of steroids and starts munching on that stuff for a while......., I might see a balding squirrel with internal organ failure that easily leaps above the duct's top. Until then, the birds and I will enjoy the fruit.Also, I noticed that snugly fitting aluminum duct wrapped and wired closed seemed to attract fire ants' community planners who decided to develop high rise ant condos inside the duct.