Defends With Benefits - A Simple Solution With Bonus Rewards
This is a follow-up to last year's "Lions and Tigers and Pears - Oh Deer!!" in which furtive wildlife trash our best-laid plans.
In Summary: we spend a lot of time every spring pruning, fertilizing and spraying the multiple fruit trees around our property. We even did a video tutorial on proper pruning and spraying - for "maximum fruit". That term is in quotes because, in spite of diligent husbandry, all the fruit mysteriously disappeared overnight!
We discovered that our local deer family had a wonderful late-night snack at our expense. Every bit of fruit disappeared!
Rural Living Comes With Natural Consequences
You'd think we would know better. Living in a rural area has taught us to protect our gardens from marauding deer. In our defense, we did cover the fruit with heavy mesh bags - thinking that would protect them. Well, that plan didn't work. We found bags scattered about the property - torn up with bite marks through the mesh. Adding Insult to Injury.
"Best Laid Plans..."
At the time we tried being philosophical - "Well, at least it went to our local wildlife." But I was determined not to let it happen the next season.
Occam Was Right - A Simple Solution Is The Best
After doing some basic research, and rejecting the more drastic measures (e.g. smelly repellent or hunting), it looked like I needed higher protection for the trees outside our fenced yard. Unfortunately, the trees are next to huge, immovable boulders, requiring a very large enclosure. That is impractical and not cost-effective.
After more research - and a suggestion from fellow Active Rainer Alexandra Siegel - I devise Plan B - Deer Netting. As Alexandra noted, deer netting is used in vineyards throughout Northern California as an environmentally-friendly solution. So I fashion some make-shift head gear for each tree, and drape the nets over each tree - cinching them around the trunk.
Voila - it works! Sure enough, no midnight raids this year. (Or, if they tried, they weren't successful.) And Bonus! The netting actually serves as a net. You can see in the photo that securing the net around the trunk creates a pouch that catches fruit. Solving the age-old problem of fruit falling on the ground to be eaten by bugs and predators before I can get to them.
Putting an end to the midnight raid is a huge relief. No shooting deer, no rotting repellent, and no over-sized fence. Just a simple but elegant solution that provides a bonus feature. It defends with benefits. Looks like we'll be using safety nets again next year.
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