August 22, 2007

MY POOR PEAR TREE


Can you see my lucky Irish charm in the upper left of the photo ?


My Asian pear has been the target of some nasty birds that have destroyed almost half the crop. I hung noise makers and chimes to alert my " bird dog " Cleo which didn't seem to work so then I strung netting around it and while it seems to save the lower pears I still see pecking marks on the upper ones.

The poor tree looks awful but I am bound and determined to have some pears for myself. My daughter suggested that I put out a bird feeder , but I'm against feeding the birds in summer because I want them to eat the harmful insects in my garden.

Anybody have some other suggestions ?

14 comments:

  1. Is the tree too large to use bird netting? I've also seen people individually wrap their fruit in little bags. Sounds like a lot of work but maybe you could do that with like 20 of them to ensure that you get some fruit. Good luck.

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  2. Hi carolyn,
    Alas, no suggestions... just a comment. I LOVE Asian Pears! are they easily growable here in chgo?

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  3. I think that you have done all that you can do, just pray that they find that it is not worth the trouble, and move on to someone else's unprotected tree.

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  4. Hi Anthony,

    The tree is small and I have it wrapped in pond netting. Maybe small paper bags is the way to go.

    Hi Rosemarie,

    I love Asian pears as well and use them a lot in Korean cuisine. They're also great just sliced in salads.

    Hi vonlafin,

    I'm in agreement with you. I dearly hope and pray they'll move on to another food source.

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  5. I just found your blog and read about your bird troubles. When we had problems like that we fixed old compact discs to the branchs (this people are doing also in their vegetable gardens in order to keep the birds away). This action helped as long as the sun was shining ;-)! In any case, I do hope for you that the rest of your Asian pears will be yours!
    Greetings from Switzerland. Barbara

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  6. Hi Barbara in Switzerland. Thanks for visiting and leaving your suggestions for old compact discs tied to the branches. Annie from the Transplantable Rose told me about that method but since I have it netted right now I'm gonna wait a while longer to see if it works.

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  7. I have no new suggestions, I think any of those could work. But I do like the idea of hanging a lucky charm, and hoping for the best!

    Carol at May Dreams Gardens

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  8. Hi Carol,

    So far the lucky charm and netting seems to have worked the best. Thanks for stopping by.

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  9. Good luck, Carolyn - I hope you get some of those beautiful pears to eat.

    Have you identified the species of birds that are going after them? Maybe if nothing else, you'll see some unusual varieties that only eat fruit in addition to the more usual insect or seed-eating birds.

    Good luck!

    Annie at the Transplantable Rose

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  10. Hi Annie,

    None other than our beautiful state bird, the Cardinal. I've heard that they are partial to fruit and nuts .

    They are still pecking through the net so maybe I'll just take it off and wrap the lower pears in paper bags. Now I'm gonna have a "poke " tree.

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  11. Someone told me to hang CD's up
    on the trees to keep the birds
    landing on your Pear Tree.

    (CD's from your computer)

    -Cathy

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  12. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  13. Hey Cathy,

    Thanks for the advice. I've had this suggestion from two other people. Perhaps its worth a try.

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  14. Hi Carolyn,

    My husband's grandmother owns a farm, and asked me where she could find a place to buy an Asian Pear tree in Chicago for her farm. I know nothing of gardening and farming, so I've been looking on the Internet to see if I could find anything. Do you know where I could get her an Asian Pear tree to plant on her farm?

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