Trap and dispose of per your state's laws.

Live traps and birdseed or peanuts in the shell are your friend. Squirrels are really easy to trap that way.

Mine is gone also. Despite my best efforts I am down to 4 apples on a tree that had about 60 after thinning.
I still have a peach that has many fruits but I assume they are saving them for dessert after the apples are gone.

The heat wave in the states is affecting the animals too it seems....

My acreage is carved out of the woods, and the woods are full of rats. Last year I was disabled and could not bait for rats, and out of 20 fruit trees only the citrus had any fruit for me. This year I started baiting early and it has taken six weeks to get the population down enough to save my fruit. It has taken 50 lbs of bait, costing about $200. Al

I got three Shiro plums.

I should have started trapping earlier this year, the squirrel population is very high. In past years I would stop trapping from September to April and still come out OK. I have lost about half my ripening fruit thus far. I have four Kania traps constantly set and baited.

Scott

Here in southeastern NY it is a once in a decade squirrel epidemic. My baffle systems are working if branches start high enough but at sites where I've never had issues and trees are trained low I'm often losing all but tart and late apples and everything else I can't baffle. Often while fruit is still very, very green.

I'm starting to worry about my ripening melons.

I had 12 peaches on my peach tree and is left now is one. No animals didn't eat my peaches. The peaches dropped down injured by some sort of infection. I sprayed but started late after the damage happened. My yard is surrounded by shade trees and looks like the shade trees spread lots of fungicides. I learned my lessons I am going to start a spray program early and include the shade trees too. I lost every apricot on the three apricot trees may be 100 of it. I am so disappointed my area is invested by fungi and I have to work hard to control it and start early.

If you are trapping and releasing, please don't drop them off near a house in a rural area. I live at the end of a dirt road, and people from the nearby town keep releasing animals near my property, then become my problem. Please don't make your problem someone else's.

Do people think the mild winter led to more squirrel survivals? It does seem like an epidemic here, usually I trap in April and get the local guys cleared out, and only a few more show up all summer. This year I have had a constant flow of fresh migrants coming in.

Scott

Possibly, but I find that squirrel populations vary from year to based on predators more then weather. When I have an ermine, hawks or owls in the area, the squirrel population drops pretty quickly, and once they are mostly gone, the predators leave. Then with no predators, they seem so reproduce very quickly.

I attempted no trapping this year, relying only on baiting and so far have had minimal losses to critters. I think this strategy is particularly effective during hot dry weather.