Apple Harvest Protection

On the photo above you can see our dog (corgi named Fox) guarding basket of apples picked up from the tree in our backyard. This picture I made pervious year. Honestly speaking role of Fox here is ceremonial. At this stage apples are already safe. Now it is season again and battle to save the apple harvest is in progress. On the photo to the right you can see defense system which I installed for apple protection. Next step describes what kind of enemies we fight to keep our harvest.

Here are what I used to build protection barriers:

1. Six 2x4 pieces (~2.5 feet each).
2. Five strips of vinyl (or better leather) (~six inches each).
3. Plastic anchoring spikes.
4. 1/2 inches electrical straps.
5. Waterproof seal liquid.
6. "Squirrel stopper" liquid.
7. Brid protection net.
8. Pole from broken beach umbrella.
9. Wooden handle.
10. Piece of plastic water hose 1/2 inches diameter (~ 4 feet).
11. Some wooden planks.
12. Four metal angle braces (2.5 inches).
13. Pieces of single core wires.
14. Some wooden screw.

Ordinary tools used for this project: hand drill, screwdriver, hammer, pliers.

Apple three health could be affected by a lot of things, like fungus and insects. These may infect tree trunk, branches, leaves, and fruits. While fighting these disease is important it is not a subject of this project. Here we concentrate on birds and rodents.

On the left photo you can see apple fruit damaged by the bird. Birds normally will not eat whole fruit, only small part of it, but it would be enough for whole fruit to be terminally damaged. With rodent (like squirrel or maybe rat) it is a different story. They may eat most part of the fruit or even take away whole apple leaving nothing. In next steps I'll show how we protect our tree against these intruders.

First of all I have to keep away rodents. Six pieces of two-by-four ~2.5 feet of length I attached to each other with vinyl strips by a stapler. Actually selection of vinyl is not the best choice: leather strips would be better, so next time I , probably, will change that. Still vinyl works somehow. In the middle of each wooden segment I installed electrical strap.

I covered wooden barrier by brush with the waterproof sealer. (This step is optional, but it prevent wood from rotting and allows me to use the same wooden part for years). Then I arranged barrier around tree trunk and anchored it with spikes through straps to the ground. Obviously such a low barrier doesn't prevent rodents to reach the tree. That's where "Squirrel Stopper" helps. Bottle description claims that content provides protection for up to thirty days, but I don't take my chances and repeat sprinkling of the barrier two-three times per week.

Now it is time to build protection against air intruder - birds. I made a circle out of piece of plastic hose. Ends of hose I connected to each other with wooden insert and attached to the circle wooden cross made out of two planks. That will be canopy base.

I attached four metal angle braces to the end of wooden handle, and with the help of screws I secured canopy base to the braces. Other end of the handle I inserted into the pole (leftover of broken beach umbrella).

I put bird net on the canopy base and secured netting to the canopy with pieces of wire. Then my wife and I raised the pole, moved it close to the tree trunk and tied it to the trunk with some band. After that I moved the ladder around the tree, adjusted the birds netting and tied its loose edges with pieces of wire. I must be sure there are no any loose space: everything protected by net.

That's it. This is the project. Now we are waiting when apples will be ready to be picked up (probably in October) .