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Homeowner Forum / Lawn and Garden / July 2008



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Where are my strawberries?

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General Schvantzkopf - 28 Jun 2008 19:24 GMT
I have a couple of dozen strawberry plants but no strawberries. I assume
that something is eating them before they have a chance to develop, but
what? Also I've only seen the starts of a few berries so maybe my plants
aren't producing at all. The plants look healthy, they just don't have any
berries.

I have a fence around my gardens and bird netting across the top but it's
not bird tight, they could walk in if they had a mind to.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

I live in Massachusetts.
Jo Green - 02 Jul 2008 17:27 GMT
On Jun 28, 2:24 pm, General Schvantzkopf <schvantzk...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
> I have a couple of dozen strawberry plants but no strawberries. I assume
> that something is eating them before they have a chance to develop, but
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>
> I live in Massachusetts.

Hi,

I have had the same experience with my strawberry garden.  After many
hours of observance and much to my surprise, I one day found a
chipmunk running across the lawn with a strawberry in his mouth.  He
proceeded to sit within view of where I was and eat the strawberry in
front of me.  Not long after I witnessed a squirrel doing the same
thing.

When your strawberries disappear you immediately think insects or
birds.  My strawberry garden is also fenced in and netted and somehow
the chipmunks and squirrels find a way in to access the
strawberries.

Netting with finer and smaller openings will help this problem.
Surrounding the garden with plants that chipmunks and squirrels do not
like such as natural insect repellant plants helps.  These are both
good remedies but the reality is you will never totally protect your
strawberry garden from these crafty creatures.
Omelet - 02 Jul 2008 17:33 GMT
In article
<983fc51d-21b0-45a1-9c7a-ee52e2a24219@x35g2000hsb.googlegroups.com>,

> On Jun 28, 2:24 pm, General Schvantzkopf <schvantzk...@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
[quoted text clipped - 30 lines]
> good remedies but the reality is you will never totally protect your
> strawberry garden from these crafty creatures.

Dogs.

Dogs that like to chase and kill squirrels. ;-)

Many types of terriers will do...
Signature

Peace! Om

"Human nature seems to be to control other people
until they put their foot down." -- Stephan Rothstein

General Schvantzkopf - 02 Jul 2008 17:39 GMT
>> I have a couple of dozen strawberry plants but no strawberries. I
>> assume that something is eating them before they have a chance to
[quoted text clipped - 26 lines]
> remedies but the reality is you will never totally protect your
> strawberry garden from these crafty creatures.

I have millions of chipmunks, that could be it. My previous cat kept them
under control but he disappeared last year, I suspect that a coyote got
him. I don't want to risk the same thing happening to my new cats so I'm
keeping them inside which leaves me without a means of limiting the
chipmunk population.
Omelet - 02 Jul 2008 17:42 GMT
> >> I have a couple of dozen strawberry plants but no strawberries. I
> >> assume that something is eating them before they have a chance to
[quoted text clipped - 32 lines]
> keeping them inside which leaves me without a means of limiting the
> chipmunk population.

You could try a low hotwire...
Signature

Peace! Om

"Human nature seems to be to control other people
until they put their foot down." -- Stephan Rothstein

General Schvantzkopf - 02 Jul 2008 17:56 GMT
>> > On Jun 28, 2:24 pm, General Schvantzkopf <schvantzk...@yahoo.com>
>> > wrote:
[quoted text clipped - 38 lines]
>
> You could try a low hotwire...

Does that work with chipmunks? Chipmunks can probably hear ultrasound and
at one time electric fences emitted high frequency noise when they were
pulsed on, that may have changed with modern systems I don't know. In the
1970s I knew someone who was suckered into touching his electric fence by
his dogs. He had put up a wire to keep his dogs in the yard, what he
didn't know was that his dogs could hear a buzz from the wire which was
inaudible to a human. After his dogs got zapped a couple of times they
figured out that the wire made noise when it was live. They then decided
to get even with him. He looked out in the yard and saw his dogs licking
the wire. Naturally he thought the system was broken so he went out to
check it. He grabbed a hold of the wire and got zapped, his dogs then
wagged their tails and walked off.
 
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