How can I protect my backyard fruit from animals who eat them?

Question

I have a nectarine tree in my backyard that bears fruit every summer. They're delicious once they're ripe but I wasn't able to try them this summer because all the squirrels, birds, and insects ate them. I tried to protect the fruit by wrapping them in little packages of newspaper but that didn't work. The animals still got away with it. I could purchase repellants, but I'm afraid of consuming the subtance that they contain. How can I enjoy those yummy nectarines in my backyard without the annoying animals in my way?

The animals gather them as early as the fruit is an inch in diameter.

Answer 1

Try hard to attach stuff to the tree to scare beast away.

Answer 2

Buy little rubber snakes and put them on the tree so it scares the animals away. I did that and it worked.

Or you could pick the nectarines just before they ripe ( im pretty sure the animals only eat the ripe fruits) and ripe them in a brown bag at home. That way you can get to the nectarines before the animals do.

Answer 3

You could ask animal control to lie traps for the squirrles out and they would than take the squirrles and put them back in the forrest.

Otherwise, you could go to a local nursery and purchase a bird net. I have one that I streched out over my veggie bed. As I have strawberries and tomatoes growing in it. Or another way is
feed the squirrles with corn cabs and perhaps it keeps em way from the tree.

Answer 4

buy a plastic but realistic owl and cat, set then in different parts of the tree each week. also, tie pieces of foil on strings from branches so they flutter in the wind. Net the whole tree will work, and lastly, at the home and garden store, you can buy a sensor for you hose, it detects movement and turns on a sprinkler which scares the critters (squirels) off

Answer 5

We put up a bug light around our garden and it has worked MIRACLES!