Thanks Irma,my everbearing is only twenty feet away and was untouched. Now that I had time to take stock. I got raided good. They got tomatoes. The fruit from my pear cactus. Some peaches but not all. Raided wife's bulb garden. Got most of my wild blue berries and got it to the trash. I think I might introduce him to a rock salt round. It will not kill.

A raid! Then, I guess my potted mulberry is now safe at night by the garage door -- outside surrounded by concrete rather than by other edible goodies.

Ohhh man!!!!

Glenn and Irma,

Glenn, oh, shoot! So sorry about your tree! That would have upset me, too.

This made me think back to Nova's peach tree cage or as we sometimes called it, "peach prison". Maybe this would be something worth doing?

This Year We WILL Have Peaches!

Pictures from the Garden this Weekend

Carol in Jacksonville

I've never used one, but I'm told this works pretty well:

https://www.amazon.com/ScareCrow-Motion-Activated-Animal-Repellent/dp/B000071NUS

I've been having a problem during the drought with rats, squirrels, raccoons coming for the fruit for the water content. I find the tomato skins sucked dry on the ground in the mornings.

so sorry about your tree, I'm in Miami area and we have some big a** raccoons here, luckily they don't seem to notice our less then 1 year old black mulberry tree, already producing right now. They do however feast on our mangoes when in season :( Would you ever sell any of your Pakistan Mulberry cuttings? They've been impossible to find online!

A dog! Since moving to Florida from NY, we've been raided from raccoons, squirrels, and who knows what else. Got all the Mangoes.

We had three dogs in NY and they took care of all of the above.

We do not have a dog in Florida, but I'm thinking seriously of getting another. Once they know you have a dog in the yard, they go elsewhere.

Jane

AHHH! THat stinks, but I have to say... they grow so fast that by the end of summer you'll never know that happened.

My only advise is - since you have broken limbs, don't try to mend them. Use them to make cuttings. LOTS of cuttings.. and feel free to share. :-) I am always rooting new cuttings from my (everbearing) mulberry. They are easy to root and even when you don't baby them there is still about a 50% success rate! I'd love to have more variety of them - wanna trade cuttings??? LOL

Your tree will recover well and may even branch out better for you now. Sorry for the loss of the crop though. I know it's never nice to put so much work into growing something to only have an animal ruin it for you.

Barbie~

This is what I have after i cut all the damage off.

Carol I love peach jail I hope it doesn't come to that. Writersblock thanks for the link I might get one but it would be more fun to put it near my teenagers window. Maria email me . Jane have dogs the do there job in the back yard but the front is not fenced. Wich is ware my mulberries are. My cat is mean as !ell and keeps them away it just happens one of my kids has taken to bringing him in at night. Thats going to stop. Barbie. I will be putting the cuttings to use. Selling off what I propagate is how I pay for my gardening habit.

Glenn I just emailed you. Btw that's still a handsome little tree and will bounce back in no time!

Glenn, sorry to hear about your mulberry but it will grow back in no time, hope that you solve your future harvests and get a handle on the problem.

My mulberries are also in the front yard and like you I do not have a fence there just in the backyard but nobody touches the fruit. I have two, one is the ever bearing that Barbie shared it with me and the other one is an Iranian white that is really sweet like cotton candy, it is starting to ripen now. I keep them short.

I think one thing that help in my front yard is that I have big lights on the ground, it is good for any kind of intruders...

Silvia

Oh, Man. I just looked at your stick.

Rita yeah its bad but it should come back fine mulberries are hard to kill.

Sorry but if a raccoon ate or tore up ANY of my plants fruits flowers or veggies he wouldn't live to see another day!! I'm a serious animal lover but have grown to HATE raccoons here in Florida ( unless they're cute babies) I used to live in front of sawgrass park for years n they destroyed everything I grew plus drug our trash up n down the neighborhood!! Would even steal my bags of bonemeal n dig in my purse!! I think I still have pics of when it happened posted on my FB ! (long story but I had cookies in purse on my porch @ sunset:)

Last night, Squirrel (apparently) dug in my potted mulberry with still-red black mulberries - 2nd night in new location against garage door. Glad squirrels don't like those (yet??). Wish they could read a sign: "no acorns in here".

Thats one problem I don't have is tree rats. They run past my house just as fast as they can or my cat will eat them.

If anyone is near Orlando and would be willing to share a cutting or two, I'd love to have them. Good luck with the raccoons. One has been eating up my garden lately as well.

Glenn,

You could always live trap them & relocate them. Some counties have a loaner program for the Have-a-heart traps. If not Harbor Freight has a cheap knock off. Coons are suckers for a can of cat food. Once they zero in on a food source it is hard to get them out.

Craig

Craig I got a trap yesterday so far just catching cats.mine twice and the neighbors. I have a cat lady right upper road so I don't know if this will work . Last time I had a raccoon problem I beat It with a stick after catching him in trash can and after that non came back ever but I don't think that is a option this time. I will get that coon just don't know how yet

Glenn, I'm so sorry!

Glenn, I'm so sorry!

Glenn, I'm so sorry!

Bea's really sorry! (lol)

My problem has been solved with a rolling platform for my fruiting potted mulberry. A neighbor had a rolling office chair at curbside, out for "grabs" that was being ignored, so I asked if he could/would remove the bottom part with the wheels. Works great - pot with drainage catcher sits on it and is quite stable. I push it in and out of the garage with my toe (don't have to bend or lift) into the sunshine each morning. Publix has small plant platform w/tiny wheels for about $10. But this is more fun 'cause it was free and a gift - even if it is oversized and looks like something that should be flying in outer space.

Irma, do you have a picture? I just turned my office chair over to look at it and I don't see how it could support a pot if I took it apart.

And, I know the raccoon are out there at night: 2 mornings ago several potted plants near my back door had been knocked over, and BOTH of my plastic scuffs had been moved 5 yards to the foot of the oaktree I've seen them climb at night.

Writersblock, Google "5 spoke office chair base" and look at the pictures (of replacement bases). These all seem to be like mine - with an indented place the seat support stem fits into. I guess he only had to unscrew some place(s).

Oh, I see. On mine the shaft that supports the seat doesn't look like it would easily be removed. Thanks.

So my wife has decided she doesn't like the mulberries from that tree and ask me to take it out. I broke both of my shoves digging it out. Now it's in a pot. This fall I will take it to my hunting property and plant it out there. I put in a baby black mulberry in its place. The black is cuttings from the black I had at my old house that was sticking over the neighbors fence. I got them when I was working on there house last fall.

For the lazies (like me):

Google: 5 spoke office chair base

M not trying to put down the trapping idea but from my own personal experience, raccoons are too darn smart for traps. We used to live right in front of sawgrass park in st Pete fla and we had soooo many raccoons all of our trash (& neighbors) would be strewn out all up n down the street. if we didn't bungee cord them super tight n put heavy bricks on top of our bins. It was miserable!! They tore up so much all the time! They would eat all my veggies b4 I could pick them & dig up any plants I put bonemeal around but leave turds in my flower pots. I can't begin to tell u all the crazy raccoon stories but my point is, my man thought he was going to rid of them n went out n bought 8 traps :( expensive): and we looked up the best bait to use, the best traps to use, ec.. and never caught one- lol ! They're very smart & nasty ! I'm an animal lover & a big sucker for animals but living in front of that park for 5 years, I began to hate them so bad!!! accept for their cute babies! I was literally attacked by a big one @ night but I had a rake in my hand ( finishing up yard work) and thankfully was able to shoo his butt away after a few smacks as he hissed at me like crazy! I swear he had rabies but a friend said if u feed them they get mean ( that's another long story ) I'm sure I'll start some crap by saying this on this forum but I'm a blunt person and don't take offense to others opinions but the only good racoon is a dead one!!! We tried siting in the truck @ night parked just right w/ windows rolled down trying to shoot them so the neighbors couldn't c ( a good pellet gun) but we ended up moving soon after buying the gun- there are raccoons here but we have no trees or brush in our yard so thankfully we don't have to deal with them anymore!! Woohoo!!!

I forgot to say I was told u might b able to call county or wildlife people to come out n trap n relocate them for u if they become too much of a nuisance but I guess it depends on where u live ect... but it's worth looking in to ??

Rachel, brevard county Will not help but they can give me a number for a pest control company. Funny part they gave me my friend Calvin's number. He's licenced to catch the pest. Everyone, I think I may have solved the problem at least for now. I caught that raccoon coming under my fence and pepper sprayed him. I hope he got the hint. I didn't get him good so I don't know if he ran become of the spray or because I was there and he didn't expect me.

Oops I just saw my sorries. Ipad was acting up.

I'm sorry but that's flippin hillarious !! I can picture u running after a raccoon trying to pepper spray him I Never thought of that one! Lol- I gotta buy some pepper spray

Yeah I see the county not wanting to help. that's normal nowadays- we moved to brooksville and literally live on a road that's limerock and we're battling the county over getting it paved even tho it's coming out of our taxes- now it's started WW3 between all of the neighbors which is pretty sad & annoying

Yeah I know how Brooksville is. I'll be out there tomorrow to visit my family.

When I first moved here I swear I just moved to TN or somewhere like it bc it's so country compared to st Pete but I've had it with Florida I want out so bad!!

Where in brooksville does ur family live ?

I understand my parents decided to move there my 12 grade year from Orlando it was a culture shock and I decided to stay in Orlando. I tried to get out of Florida after school and joined the Navy but they just sent me back to Florida.

Hey I know it's sad to say but I bought a bunch of fruit trees they don't need many cold hours they're for Florida and I let them go never sprayed them fertilized them n quit watering them so half of them are dead or dying but I do have a couple apple trees still alive they're still small n manageable just need to be trimmed and some TLC and they'll be beautiful after a couple months- your welcome to stop by and I'll dig them up for u they're only neglected nothing else wrong with them!!

The apple trees set quite a bit of fruit but bc I didn't water them I knocked them all off to put in my compost piles :( But u can have any of them that are still alive most are grafted and good trees! The peaches however aren't worth taking

our neighbor mike just retired from army n my little bro did also he did 2 tours in Iraq n Afghanistan. Orlando is like 40 min from me I think

Don't get me wrong I love brooksville compared to the burg!! I'm getting older & tired of nasty people so country living is definitely what I'm aiming for!! I want to move to ky or tn or the Carolinas anywhere but here honestly bc we have dead sand no dirt n gardening is a challenge!

I would be happy to come get them! My parents live over by the high school. I did the north Alabama thing at one time but still ended up back in Orlando the moved to Melbourne I like it better than Orlando but it has its problems. Like don't shop for anything that every where else has if it's not at Wally world then nobody has is and I hate Wally world.

Do you like mulberry I can bring you one

I sent u an email n info don't mind the mess in my yard I've got a milli projects going on lol

And yeah i'll definitely take a mulberry are used to climb a mulberry tree that we had on the corner of Lyndale and 62nd Ave., North in Saint Pete and I used to go home covered in purple juice! all over my hands and track it all on the carpet from my shoes -my mom would get mad but it reminded her of her childhood climbing &picking mulberries from the trees lol

*we* not are that's why I always hand type my texts my Siri is a drunk!

AHHH! THat stinks