Where did my blueberries go???

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Dawgluver

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I have two beautiful bushes, about 3 years old, and they were loaded this year. We went on vacy, came back, and the one which had ripened while we were gone was picked clean. I asked the neighbors who watched the garden how they liked the blueberries, and they asked "what blueberries?"

The other one is coming on now, but when I wait a day for the ripe ones, they are gone again! Both bushes were/are covered in bird netting. What should have been a couple quarts is now looking like a handful or so.:( There are still some unripened berries, I would like to protect them.

Ground squirrels? Netting-proof birds? The netting isn't ripped and doesn't look disturbed.
 
Neighbors? I went on vacation and came home to a water filled basement. My neighbors told me they had a water leak and never thought to tell me. I think they were hoping it dried out before I got home.
 
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betterthanabox said:
Neighbors? I went on vacation and came home to a water filled basement. My neighbors told me they had a water leak and never thought to tell me. I think they were hoping it dried out before I got home.

I have interogated all the neighbors. They were also given permission to eat the berries before we left.

Just wondering what kind of critter can get through bird netting.
 
if you had birds, you'd catch them in the netting. they're good at getting in, but not out.

does the net reach the ground or does it seal off the branches in any way?
 
Look for kids with purple faces and fingers. :ROFLMAO:

When I was a kid, we had a berry patch about two miles from the house. Gallons of ripe berries would get on it. My Mom would send me to gather some for pies and I would always eat one for every one I put in the bucket! When I came home, Mom would look at me and just laugh. My mouth and fingers would be purple every time!:pig::LOL:
 
buckytom said:
if you had birds, you'd catch them in the netting. they're good at getting in, but not out.

does the net reach the ground or does it seal off the branches in any way?

It isn't completely sealed. I will tie and peg it down. Critters have been well-fed around here, all my wild raspberries disappeared too, and bites and pecks were taken out of the tomatoes. The deer enjoyed the green beans and the ground squirrels are having fun digging up the remains. Life in the country.

Neighbor kids don't know we have berries...
 
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The gray catbird is the primary berry offender in my area and they often do not wait for the berries to fully ripen. Whitetails seem partial to green beans although the cottontails enjoy the tender young bean plants..
 
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justplainbill said:
The gray catbird is the primary berry offender in my area and they often do not wait for the berries to fully ripen. Whitetails seem partial to green beans.

Yes! We have a nesting pair, and my berries are disappearing before fully ripe!

When it cools down I will make sure my netting is more secure. Then I can harvest the remaining 3 berries...

My beans are in raised containers at a nice deer height, though the bunnies also do their share. Caught a doe snacking her way around the backyard hostas, they were all given crewcuts. She also enjoyed the ornamental sweet potato vines.

Thanks, Bill!
 
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One of our neighbors has an invisible fence and shocker collar on their dog. The dog spends a lot of time outdoors in the summer and seems to minimize their problems with garden crop losses.
 
My neighbors used an invisible fence for their 2 big dogs, one always escaped, then was afraid to go back, so she spent a lot of time over here. Neighbor also spent an awful lot of time repairing said fence, we have underground critters who would chew through it.

My beagle I do not trust outside on her own. Plus, she melts in the heat.

Other neighbors do have several free-roaming cats, though I have not seen them lately. Maybe the deer got them!

Our deer are totally fearless. We had a herd in the yard, and one walked up the back steps to look through the glass door.
 
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Except between themselves most all our critters are normally quite docile. Wish my neighbors cat was more into chipmunks than cottontails. Perhaps your beagle would benefit from the company of a Jack Russell.
 
We used to doggy-sit a Jack Russel. Him I would definitely trust to rid the gardens of any critters. Sadly, he is gone. We do have an Australian shepherd and a dachhund next door, along with an elderly mutt on the other side, all of which are free-roaming, but they are totally useless.

Beagle would love to do rabbit duty, but I'm afraid that's how she ended up at the pound where we got her. Entirely focused.
 
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We lost 2 bushes worth of blueberries and all the raspberries and black berries to birds, and an entire tree of peaches to squirrels in 24 hours!!!
 
DaveSoMD said:
We lost 2 bushes worth of blueberries and all the raspberries and black berries to birds, and an entire tree of peaches to squirrels in 24 hours!!!

Aha! A conspiracy!

Just when you start to anticipate all the lovely jams, tarts, and other things, they are gone. Love all the critters, but it would sure be nice if they would share.
 
until i put up a 6 foot privacy fence, my raspberries would disappear whenever the turkish neighbor kids were around, no matter how many times i told them to please only eat the ones that they could reach from their side of the old 3 foot picket fence.

i used to catch them leaning over the fench with a rake to bend the canes back towards them, then snapping off whole cane tops trying to reach more berries.

they also used to show up at the old fence whenever we swam in our pool, bathing suits on and towels ready, all with long faces.
at first i didn't mind, but after a whole summer of free babysitting (their moms never came out to help watch the kids in the pool, even sending over a 4 year old with obvious mental difficulties - who also doesn't speak english with the group of kids for us to watch in our pool), we put up the privacy fence.

god, i love that thing. :D
 
Critters of a different type! So hard to be tolerant!

We have youngsters show up at our pool too, with long faces, as their parents neglected to pay the rec association dues and were not issued a pool key. Said they "lost their key.". I think they finally got caught up.
 
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I just found big holes CHEWED through my bird netting! :mad: So now I am suspecting ground squirrels, voles, catbirds, and possibly coons. Anyone residing in my yard is a suspect, and is put on notice!
 
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