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Fruit & Orchards

Deer destroyed my Asian pear trees last night

15 years ago

I have been eagerly awaiting to try some Asian pears and had some really nice ones on my new trees I had planted this year. I had fenced the trees off with heavy plastic fencing about shin to eye level high. Every day I would go in my back yard to examine them and check on their development, cradling the pears in my hand anticipating their ripening to fruition.

When I woke op this morning I had found the trees shredded and ripped in half. All the pears had been striped and the branches strewn around the yard. Sickening how nature works sometimes - they come in the night and I wake up to their destruction.

But I guess it reminds me that nature does not bow to me ~ I bow to nature.

Next season will try it all over again and replace the trees with new ones and heavy metal fencing from ankle high to over my head in height.

"When the sun rises I go to work,

When the sun goes down, I take my rest,

I dig the well from which I drink,

I farm the soil that yields my food,

I share creation, Kings can do no more."

Ancient Chinese, 2500 BC

Comments (6)

denninmi
15 years ago
I had a similar problem about 8-10 years ago, a large deer herd eating everything. Worst damage was in the late summer-early fall, when the bucks would use my young fruit trees to polish their antlers and rub off the itchy "velvet." They killed a few, and maimed some others that did survive.

I had to do as you suggest, putting fences made of six foor wire mesh around each tree -- about 50 trees total.

Since then, our deer herd in the neighborhood has declined a lot. The neighbor two doors down had the misfortune of hitting 3 deer with her car with a one year period -- her insurance agent couldn't believe it. I almost hit them a couple of times. Enough of them got killed on the roads that the population has dropped significantly.

I have a fawn living in my yard right now -- quite small when I saw it about 5 weeks ago for the first time. I likes to spend the days in my corn and under my blackberry bushes, and, of course, it is stripping things at night, like collards, kale, soybeans, etc. I'm cutting things down as soon as they are havested, like the sweet corn, to remove cover and hopefully make "Bambi" move on to greener pastures.
flora2b
15 years ago
Are you sure it is deer and not a bear? Usually the deer eat all the leaves and fruit, but usually they don't shred and rip apart the trees all in one night!
Sorry for your loss.....I know how you feel.....I just put up two deer fences this year as I was tired of the competition.
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Awww so nice you put out appetizers for them. :( They will be back and looking for a main course. They devastated my garden a few years ago, ate the tomatoes down to the ground, In broad daylight. I looked out the basement window and they were standing in my kitchen garden having a feast. A few days later the electric fence was up. They do not seem to have figured out they could jump it, but maybe because it is raised beds/against the house, they don' like the landing part. Also the motion sprayers work, but I moved mine around a couple of times, Good luck!
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Sharppa, From what I've gathered from several experts here, for peach, each problem is treated with different chemicals at different time. Peach leaf Curl and backterial leaf spot, I use copper during dormant season. I use copper hydroxide (Kocide 3000) in late fall and early spring. For brown rot, some use Monterey Fungi Fighter about a month before harvest. Otheres use Captan (which also helps with peach scab). I have not used any. So far, brown rot is not too severe for me (yet). Peach scab, some use Captan, I use wettable sulfur (not as effective but, to me, it's less harmful than Captan). You should add sticker such as Bonide Turbo or NuFilm 17 so the chemicals stay on trees longer. As for insects, I also use Triazicide but some here don't think it works for them. I work for me. I don't use immunox on peach. It does not help. Immunox is famous for preventing Cedar Apple Rust on apples in the spring. I'll see if I could answer your Asian pears on another post. I have 4 Asian pear varieties and more than 4 pear problems!!! By the way, what part of the country you live. It can make a difference.
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Josephine, this is getting confusing because you are adding to an old thread about fireblight with new questions about a different topic. I suggest again that you begin a new thread with your own topic. FWIW the fruit on your tree don't look new. They appear to be old fruit still hanging on after leaf drop which is not that unusual.
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Deer would be the most likely suspect in my area - they eat any kind of fruit. And other small tree climbing mammals could be candidates - possums, skunks, squirrels, even fox - although I would think the raccoon traps would attract and trap them as well. Bears like fruit as well :-)
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calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
15 years ago
I don't think it was deer either. Bear or a family of raccoons is more likely. Al
garbird
15 years ago
Where do you live, allenwrench? It sounds more like a bear,but deer can do alot of damage when the bucks are polishing there antlers this time of year. I have never seen a deer tear a tree in half though. Usually they just shred the bark, eat the fruit and leaves. I always try to thin the deer herd by putting away a good amount of venison every year.
garbird
tdave8666
15 years ago
REALLY. . . . .BIG. . . . .BUCKET!
garbird
15 years ago
I wish I had the space to grow fruit trees. I have a recipe for a fruit salsa that goes great with grilled fish. The Asian pears are really great in it ( love the crisp texture), but right now they are selling for $3.99 each at my local grocery stores.
garbird

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