I do not know of a way to stop a tree from fruiting. What do you mean by the birds and squirrels? Are they pooping on your deck or something? Is the fruit dropping on a lawn or deck or landscaping...? Tell us more and maybe a picture so we can help with advice. Maybe the tree can be pruned to reduce some of the litter. Include a closeup of the leaves on a branch and the fruit (with a coin to scale) also, so it can be identified.

Hi, yes the animals/birds are messing up the deck, windows, cars, neighbors cars, and gardens, also the rotting cherries are making a mess everywhere. the birds fly off with them and drop them all over the place. We have to clean up and wipe everything every night. Someone told me there was some chemical called floral i could use but i have never heard of it, was hoping someone here had?

just cut it down.. and in fall plant something that pleases you ...

your only option is hardcore chemicals to interfere with fertility ... of the tree... and perhaps yourself. ..

the happiest day in my first house... in the garden.. was when i got rid of the last nightmare the prior owners left me... why that took 5 years .... is beyond me now.. do as i say .... not as i did.. and dont live with it for another moment..

since you will be replacing it with another tree ... dont dwell in all that foo foo guilt stuff ...

ken

Any chemicals have to be reapplied every year. Forever. If you aren't going to pick them, cut it down.

Dan

I suspect he has a muberry. ;-)

The chemical name is Florel, not floral. It is a plant growth regulator and must be used with care. You would have to know with certainly what your plant is, as it can't be used on everything. And the timing of the application has be be dead on. Too early or too late in the growth cycle of the buds and it won't work.

I strongly suggest that you cut the tree down, and do so withOUT reluctance. If you let us see some pictures, we can ID it for you promptly, but it won't change my vote....cut it down!

Try reading this and this. And think again!

Resin

Resin, I am beginning to worry about you. LOL

LOL...that's awesome

"Resin, I am beginning to worry about you. LOL"

;-)

But yeah, fruitless trees are for fruitless people . . . sorry, but I find preventing fruit to make wildlife go hungry is plain immoral.

Resin

Resin, I dont really give a crap abut your morals. It was a question, if you dont agree simply dont answer you moran.

Learn some basic manners. People don't talk like that on this forum.

I can strongly relate with the problem of the poster. I have two Korean dogwoods which decided this year to produce a lot of quarter coin size red fruits. They look like little grenades and when fully ripe drop to make a real mess. I also do not want to use more chemicals around my yard, and cutting one of the trees down seems to be an option also for me.

I picked all the fruits from branches above driveway, walkway and patio, and cut some of the higher branches. So I believe a hard pruning job might reduce the problem for a while, and should be added to the options. I like the profusion of white flowers in spring, and like also feeding the birds with the fruits, but humans also have to exist.
Bernd

"I like the profusion of white flowers in spring, and like also feeding the birds with the fruits, but humans also have to exist."

So, Bernd, your Korean dogwood fruit is somehow killing you? Surely you are mistaken and something else is causing whatever problem you are having.

Brandon, I think you know that it is not about life but about work, and there is only so much work a person can do. Trees can cause a LOT of work. If I had back all the time I'd spent pruning my oversize willows, pulling seedlings from the one neighbour's norway maple, pruning and cleaning and clearing debris and trying to keep other plants alive under the other neighbour's giant lawson cypress that ate my yard and house, and let's not start with the street tree and water shoots on the apple tree, I'd have a lot more accomplished and also not be as decrepit - I trace the degenerative disk problems in my neck partly to all the tree work I've had to do (bicycle riding didn't help), and most of it was/is not of my choice.

It is a really difficult problem and it is hard to draw the line. The problem is when the wrong tree is put into an urban environment and causes work for people. People can only do so much work.

A tree that makes a mess is particularly difficult to assess from outside the situation. How cleanable is the mess? Is it dangerous? (my neighbour's other tree is an Albizia whose little leaflets cover my back stairs and turn into a slimy death trap). Is it causing hard feelings? I used to have overflowing eaves constantly due to the lawson, and I was mad about it. Is it the one job an elderly home owner can no longer take care of? For example, pulling those 400 + Norway seedlings is something I can only do for another few years at most. Should I have to move out of my house into an apartment because of the neighbour's tree? Yes, people have to live their lives.

Bernd, if the fruit falls over a short period of time, I wonder if you can capture it somehow - put down a tarp for a week or two? I realize the birds will still make a mess of patios etc, but maybe that can be dealt with with one big clean-up once it's all over. With my maple seedlings, I have decided that I can probably reduce the scale of the problem if I do a serious fall clean-up once all the seeds are down. If you study the pattern of the problem you may be able to figure out an efficient way of minimizing the effect. And also, plant some new trees now so that the birds do not starve once you cut this tree down. Perhaps there is another spot in your yard where such a tree could be grown with less problem - if fruits fall on grass vs on patio, they may be easier to deal with.

Karin L

Oh, you mean he didn't mean it was keeping him from existing???