Peach drooling

 I got some of our fragar peaches before the bats this morning.  Rich,
aromatic, sweet and juicy, two vanished very quickly before I poured my
cornflakes.  Juice, and probably some saliva, was running down to my elbows.
There is just no comparison with store-bought because they tend to be picked
under ripe.

For those who haven't tried a properly ripened peach or nectarine, even if you
have room for only one fruit tree in your yard plant one.

David

 
well we've been trying to join you, but having a few problems & having to
eat the peaches not-quite-ripe! it is a bit frustrating. something is
stinging the fruits so they have brown rotting patches as they ripen. still,
the edible remainders are pretty good. those which don't have fruit-fly,
that is ;-) i was also getting mad at the birds for getting into them, until
dh pointed out that the birds aren't causing nearly as much damage as the
bugs are. good point.

i'm hoping that next year we'll be having more fruit with fewer problems
(getting informed might help, eh.)
enjoy your peaches!
kylie

 We have had a 2 apricot trees for a few years. Believe it they grew from
seed. Honestly.

However we have yet to enjoy any fruit as they drop before they get to a
good size.

Do you think it is lack of water that's doing that?   I know the birds come
and could knock them down, but so many?

thanks
Katherine

 0tterbot wrote:

Kylie, I wonder if making muslin drawstring bags to hang around the
fruits might work? Muslin would allow the light and air in to swell the
fruits, but would keep out all but the tiniest of creatures. You'd
probably have to put the bags on while the fruits were still small and
green: that is, before the insects got a whiff of them.

I dunno... I've never grown stone fruits, but it might work?

Do you have a Spotlight nearby? They keep muslin of different weights
and also some of the sew-in interfacings would do just as well.

--
Trish Newcastle, NSW, Australia

 

We tried paper bags this year.  The organic growers society recommended them
as they are cheap and you use no insecticide.  The idea is you bag the fruit
just after it sets and it keeps out the fruit fly, birds and bats.  I was
sceptical but the bags last fairly well, only now are they starting to rot and
fall off having been on for 4 months, with much rain in that time.

As for keeping out the vermin, two out of three might be good for some
purposes but not this one.  We have no fly or bird loss.  The bats however are
no respecter of paper bags.  They are smart enough to drop by and check on the
bags from time to time as the fruit develops - they know there is fruit in
there.  As soon as their cute little noses tell them it is ripe their cute
little teeth go straight through the bag and into the fruit.  Bless their
little fructivorous instincts.

So we have just bought a roll of netting and I will be constructing polypipe
igloos over the winter to hold the net.  Hopefully next year we will get all
the fruit instead of about one quarter.

We had some cheapo nets as a stop gap but as expected they didn't last.  While
releasing one of our cute little furry guests I got to check out his cute
little toothy pegs.  Don't let anyone tell you that only carnivores have
dangerous teeth.  In proportion to their size a bat has teeth better than a
cat or dog and needle sharp.  After they have been in a net for a few hours
they will bite anything that comes into range.

So I don't know if cloth bags will work if you have bats.  Have you though of
knitting them out of barbed wire?

David