I hope you get some rain soon. I've read a lot that you've posted and I know you know a lot. I will have coon problems later this summer, but right now, the deer are killing my apple, plum and cherry trees(eating the leaves). I was wondering if you knew of anything to deter them. I've tried human hair, critter ridder sprays, my own urine and a loud radio blasting 24/7 towards their favorite apple tree. Out of desperation, I wrapped some wedding gown material around some of my trees and that seems to have stopped them (for now). My question, will this harm the apple trees?

{{gwi:120472}}

Notice the fuji in the back. I didn't prune the limbs that high....had some help from my nature friends. I didn't know that deer would bight off a whole limb. They like plum limbs, too.

Yea, for my area, pest control is about 50% of raising a crop. The other 50% is water management. Sounds easy enough to control those factors, but as you know, it's easier said than done.

We generally have way too much water, but there are some rare summers, where it hardly rains for a whole month.

Lately, it's been a little dry and has barely rained any for about 2 weeks, but in the last 24 hrs we got an inch, with more rain expected the next few days.

Inconsistent weather patterns are harder to manage than dry or wet.

John,

I doubt tulle will harm your trees. That it is a viable solution is another question. Deer not only eat foliage, they seem equally happy to give small trees a good thrashing, which the tulle may not deter.

On Independence Day it reached 100 degrees. 95 today and Tomorrow, 30% chance of rain this week end. The lawn is scorched in spots even with water 2X a day.

The Carmine Jewel bush cherries have exciting sweet tart flavor. Goose berries, Raspberries, Blueberries all good and sweet. I'm picking the last Early Golden Apricots and Spring Satin plumcots.

The Flavor king set 20 pluots which is a lot. The Dapple dandy tree in second leaf has 5. (Hope they don't crack)The Beauty plum in second leaf has 50. Beauty may be the best plum out of all. They are getting ripe. Emerald Beaut in second leaf has dropped all fruit. Flat Wonderful tree has a good crop.

The sun and heat has produced remarkable growth. Most trees have bark stretchmarks and the grafts I done in spring are up to five feet of new growth. One Kahinta plum tree I grafted onto rootstock in spring is 6 foot tall now. Another South Dakota plum grew only one foot on the same rootstock.

The peach trees are maxed out. I've cross tied all the Redhaven peach tree branches so they don't droop on the ground. Peach scab is totally gone with the chlorothalonil.

I've just had to set a trap for the wandering squirrel. The Bluejays stab at the ripe fruits but I leave them hang and they work on just a few fruits then.

Loving this California weather.

I am enjoying this mild weather over here in california. The only downside is forget about going to the beach (its too cold). Its been perfect weather for slightly inland locations in SoCal. Good luck for those dealing with the heat and drought issues.

It's been beautiful here. 77 degrees on 4th of July weekend. Unreal.

Justjohn your name is so modest. I have plenty of deer that like to browse my nursery trees and they won't touch them when I spray them with a solution that contains a couple of eggs and a dissolved 1/4 bar of ivory soap (I shred it into boiling water and then put it in blender) per gallon of water. I make up a dozen eggs worth at a time and let it get real funky. Research I've seen shows the products with egg are most affective although here people swear by dried blood.

My customers usually get a 10 to 12 foot length of fairly cheap 14 gauge fence. The galvanized metal type with 2X4" spacing, 5' tall that Home Depot sells in 50' rolls for about $35 I think. Home Depots sells terrible lumber so I get 8' tall 2"X2" pressure treated stakes from a lumber store. Actually HD fencing is pretty bad too but works well enough for this.

With a single ring around each tree and a single stake they rarely push the wire in or reach up above the fence. They eat the branches as they poke through, training the trees above the browse line so fence can be removed in 3 or 4 years.

Deer are easy- it's squirrels that take a lot of effort.

I'm also getting California weather, but more like central California - hot hot hot. high 90's - 100's for a week here.

I have found this year that my spring spray of Surround and Serenade is not very tasty as far as the deer are concerned -- they are keeping away from sprayed leaves. They started eating plum leaves for the first time since the apples were all covered. So, I started hitting the deer-level plum leaves with this mix. After Surround season was over I used some hot pepper / rotten egg mix and that also worked. My biggest animal problem is these migrating juvenile squirrels. I've trapped half a dozen in the last week. I am also getting a lot of pecking on semi-ripe plums. My Favor Supreme are starting to ripen and I am remembering why they have that name -- wow! Soon I am heading out to bag the few fruits on that tree to keep the pecking birds off of them.

Scott

Its like a swamp in the midwest. I had over 9 inches of rain in June and i have an inch so far this month. Its been VERY humid, with daytime temps staying below 90F but overnight temps staying high. Only had ONE 90F+ reading since May (none in June).

Just a few blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries ripening here. Ate the first "Hunza" apricot yesterday and thought it was excellent. Still have some more to pic.
I'm guessing the peaches are almost ready to start filling out, same with the plums.

No deer or squirrel problems here, just the occasional rabbit.

Already have picked several ripe tomatoes (some are cracking) Last year it was Aug before i had ripe ones!

Last rain here on June 8th, no rain forecasted. My property is a scorched desert as well. I'm using the "drilled bottom 5 gal bucket trick" on my 1st year trees, trying to keep them alive. Seems as though they've had to fight since I stuck them in the ground April 5. The apples got some CAR, the peaches some curl and all the trees got chewed on by deer almost as soon as they leafed. In spite of it, they seem to be doing pretty well.

JustJohn,
I started spraying "Deer Stopper" by Messina Wildlife at first notice of chewing. I bought it directly from their site and had it here in a day or two. It has appeared to "cease and desist" all browsing. It's not cheap but I didn't want to take a chance since I live on the "white-tail deer expressway". Since the damage, I had new growth from the chewed areas.
Good Luck,
Just Chad

By the way, this stuff must have the eggs in it also. I left the jug out by accident in the sun for a few days and when I went to use it, it smelled like skank. ie. horrendous.

The past week or so has been nice and we have a few more days of this, but it's been unseasonably hot and humid throughout June -- like weather we'd expect in August.

We could use a good long rain, but the only way were are likely to get one is a strong hurricane coming in, and I can't bring myself to wish for that right now.

I'll take a dry run over a wet one... This moisture is for the fish. I've had both (very dry times/very wet) in the past few years and i prefer the dry runs. Usually July tends to dry out around here and Sept is almost always very dry.

I saw my first Japanese Beetles today. 3 of them. They must be flying in since we are way past when they should have emerged.

We are at 1418 GDD (base 50)... for comparisons, the guys in MA, Boston is at 1334 while Baltimore, MD is at 1862

Well, we are getting plenty of moisture in the middle of Summer. It's cold and drizzly. It's nice to get a break in the heat here, I am taking advantage of the cloud cover to get all my trees a good dousing of irrigation water. But looks like I will have to spray for the first time in the middle of Summer.

On the plus side, we are getting our first Summer apples, and they have a Fall apple quality to them given how cold it has been. Our high yesterday was probably 59F, the coldest I've seen around here in the Summer. We had warmer Winter days.

BTW, Topanga canyon is one of my favorite places in Southern California. Funny thing is, the Santa Ana conditions you are mentioning occur in the late Fall to early Winter down there.

LOS ANGELES had a warmer start to Jan (first 6 days) then it has to the first 6 days of July... pretty crazy.

Axel, I know the timing of Santa Anas quite well. I've watched the hills burning many times not far from where I was raised. Conditions here haven't been like that, just typical slightly inland S. CA weather in July. Hit records last 2 days as you might have seen in the news. Today the humidity picked up so it has a different feel and I know I'm on the East coast again.

Well - now we are having "typical" weather here at the beach. The fireworks couldn't be seen at the fair this year. Guess they fired em - but the fog was too deep to see them!

On the bright side - my apricot and plum trees were loaded - still canning every day - sauce and freezing lots of Santa Rosas - for - hopefully, first time wine making - when the rush is over.

Also - the mylar balloons and computer disks tied to the trees most surely take most of the credit for a bumper crop, although fruit drop shows ground damage from critters, at least the tree branches are spared. The almonds and macadamias might benefit from the same treatment. The squirrels got most of the "macs" last year.

Yup - typical June/July gloom here - and my squash and grape vines are wearing their usual mildew - sigh. Drizzle today and yesterday - all day.

Bejay

Bejay, which part of the state are you in? My macademia just started bearing this year, next year looks like a better crop yet. Our dog has been good at protecting the macs from critters. A friend of mine up in the hills has three macs that are 40 feet tall and bear so much fruit that loosing a few to critters doesn't even start to put a dent into the harvest.

All I can say is on Long Island NY It has been around 100 degrees the past 3 days and has not rained in weeks. What a fantastic year for figs!

Yeah, the figs are one thing I'll spend water on as long as there's enough left for showers. Mine are loaded and ripening fast. LSU purple and Chicago Hardy.

axel - I'm on the coast - not too far north of San Diego. It has been an exceptionally wet winter - which helps with our water rationing (3 days a week - for lawns now), but my winter vegetable crops were great. Still harvesting lettuce and green beans too.

The macadamia tree really likes it here - and produces several crops a year, but just recently the critters (rats - squirrels - possums or coons) have found it. But, hopefully, the balloon strategy will work this year. Two almonds have lots of fruit too - not yet harvestable. Figs - coming, but small tree - probably will survive until heat arrives - sometime in August.

Bejay