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Old 09-15-2010, 02:31 PM
 
Location: San Antonio-Westover Hills
6,884 posts, read 20,404,222 times
Reputation: 5176

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Okay, well, we have a lovely 10 year old pecan tree on the side of our house. It's been growing pecans this year and we have been so excited to harvest them. About two weeks ago I counted about 20 green three-cluster pods, or about 60 nuts, that was as far as I got before I determined we had plenty for me to make a pie, and some cookies or tassies.

Today I go out and all of the nuts are gone. GONE. There isn't one single green husk on my tree and definitely nothing on the ground.

I am baffled. I have NO idea what happened, but I am pissed!

Anyone have any experience with pecan trees here in SA that might give me some insight into what might have happened? I mean, do people steal nuts or is this a squirrel issue? Do they just rip 'em right off the tree?? How do I stop this? Ugh I am so mad!
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Old 09-15-2010, 02:58 PM
 
Location: That's pretty obvious
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probably the same creature that has nabbed all my tomatoes and peppers. They are just about ripe, ready to be picked within a day or two and then, poof, gone. Grrrrrr.
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Old 09-15-2010, 03:21 PM
 
14,637 posts, read 35,026,845 times
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will be interesting to hear the definitive answer to this....my brother has 2 large pecan trees in his front yard (in Virginia) and there (in years past, anyway) were so many nuts all over the yard, all over the tree....just tons of them. There are squirrels there, so maybe there were just too many nuts for the amount of squirrels? Do skunks eat pecans?
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Old 09-15-2010, 03:35 PM
 
Location: San Antonio, TX
556 posts, read 2,087,174 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mom2Feebs View Post
Anyone have any experience with pecan trees here in SA that might give me some insight into what might have happened? I mean, do people steal nuts or is this a squirrel issue? Do they just rip 'em right off the tree?? How do I stop this? Ugh I am so mad!
Mom2Feebs - we have three lovely pecan trees on the side of our home and in the 7 years we've lived in this house - 4 of the 7 seasons have resulted in STRIPPED trees, just prior to the pecans being ready for human consumption - and it is SQUIRRELS at our house....and possums and raccoons....we have NO idea why the other odd 3 years, we managed to have pecans all the way through - and suspect it was in the years that we heavily sprayed the trees for webworms. Some years we haven't had to spray - this year being one of those times - and I bet if I look today - we have less pecans on the trees than we did last weekend We have a LARGE squirrel population in our older/settled subdivision....lots of large old oak trees and ash trees providing a canopy for them to get from place to place safely - 'above us'.

One year - the trees were loaded and we had an out of town trip just prior to them being ready to pick - and were so excited to get home and enjoy fresh pecans...and like you - came home to NOT ONE pecan remaining on the three trees - but TONS of semi-eaten pecans on the ground and I'm sure a boat load were buried for their dinner on many other days that year....arghh...apparently the wildlife prefers them RIPE too!!!

Last edited by Rottnboys; 09-15-2010 at 03:46 PM..
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Old 09-15-2010, 03:48 PM
 
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as soon as i started reading i knew it was squirrels. i've got the same problem.
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Old 09-15-2010, 03:53 PM
 
Location: San Antonio-Westover Hills
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son of a....!!! How to prevent that from happening again? I am so disappointed.
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Old 09-15-2010, 03:56 PM
 
Location: San Antonio-Westover Hills
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Great article: Newsline/ARE SQUIRRELS EATING YOUR PECANS?

ARE SQUIRRELS EATING YOUR PECANS?
AUBURN, AUG. 28---Are squirrels eating or destroying your fall pecan crop?

Squirrels eat about 1 1/2 pounds of pecans a week and waste or bury another 2 pounds. They also eat immature green nuts and eat and carry off mature nuts.

If you're having a significant problem with squirrels in your yard, there are a few things you can do, says Dr. Bill Goff, Extension horticulturist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

Several control methods used simultaneously against squirrels are often more successful than a single control. However, squirrels can be kept out of isolated trees by encircling the trees with 2-foot wide sheet metal collars 6 feet above the ground. The metal collars are attached to the trees with wires held together with springs to keep the wires from girdling the trees as they grow.

A variety of traps will catch squirrels, including 0 or 1-leg hold traps, box traps and cage traps. Good baits for the traps are slices of orange and apple, walnuts or pecans removed from the shell and peanut butter. Once the squirrels are trapped, you can move them to a wooded area outside of town and release them.

SOURCE: DR. BILL GOFF, Extension horticulturist, Alabama Cooperative Extension System (334) 844-5480.
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Old 09-15-2010, 04:20 PM
 
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I can't even imagine trying to trap them. There's thousands of them over here and putting something on the ground wouldn't work because they don't get to the tree here from the ground.
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Old 09-15-2010, 04:52 PM
 
14,637 posts, read 35,026,845 times
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How weird! Seriously, there ARE assloads of squirrels in VA, I wonder why my brother has so many nuts. His trees are huge, though, and produce a ton of pecans. I have an oak tree in my front yard and way too many acorns....can you import some squirrels to my neighborhood? I only see one out there under the tree at any given time, but then, they do all look alike.
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Old 09-15-2010, 05:55 PM
 
Location: San Antonio-Westover Hills
6,884 posts, read 20,404,222 times
Reputation: 5176
Quote:
Originally Posted by sapphire View Post
How weird! Seriously, there ARE assloads of squirrels in VA, I wonder why my brother has so many nuts. His trees are huge, though, and produce a ton of pecans. I have an oak tree in my front yard and way too many acorns....can you import some squirrels to my neighborhood? I only see one out there under the tree at any given time, but then, they do all look alike.
Hubby grew up on a property with 5 mature (30-40 yrs old) producing trees in Angleton, TX. He said those trees had so many pecans on them that there was just no way the squirrels could get them all! But the little bast*rds here were like "hey, look, we can get ALL of these! awright!!"

The little girdle thing will work well for us. There's really no way for them to get to it any other way, thankfully.


Oh and um...PS...I laughed when you wrote your brother has so many nuts *lmao* and then I thought you wrote they were huge... *wiping tears* lol
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