WTH happened to my peaches?!!

[Jenni1894]

I have 2 peach trees in my yard.   Last year we had some fruit...and then the animals got to them and I had pits all over my yard.   This year both trees were FULL of fruit.  I patiently waited and waited for them to get bigger so I could harvest them.   Last week I went out there to check on them and they are GONE!  Not a pit in sight.   

I'm thinking squirrels or racoons?    Thing is I do have a dog.....but the trees are also along my fence line.  

And half of my apples are gone too. 

What do you think about this and how can stop this from happening next year.   I'm not kidding I had probably 100 peaches between both trees and I think three are seriously 3 left!!!  

[macandcheese]

With no sign of waste and so many missing, that would have to have been a pretty impressive squirrel ...

This might be paranoid of me, but do you live in an urban or suburban area where a person might have nabbed them? That would suck, but it's not unheard of. There was a NY Times article recently about people finding entire plants and such stolen from their community garden plots :(

[Jenni1894]

I do.  I live on the corner of a very busy intersection.    And the trees are along the back fence line. 

Seriously....a person you think!?!  OMG, that is really creepy!!!   These trees are tall too.   I'd say 15-20 feet tall.   And there was only 1 peach on the ground too.  

[Mrs.aLifeofReilly]

I just came here to post something similar about my pear tree!  It is a semi-dwarf tree and the other day there were tons of pears on it - today,  just two rotten ones!  Even the ones at the top are gone!  We live in a suburban neighborhood and just moved in last fall.  The tree is not close to the street but is visible from the street.

I couldn't figure out how an animal could have taken them all and left no evidence (no half eaten fruits on the ground, none just nibbled on).  The idea that some one came in the yard and took them is really, really creepy.  We don't know all our neighbors (we are friendly with all the ones whose properties border ours) but it is so hard to imagine that someone would do that.  They'd probably have needed a ladder to get to the higher ones!

[Lovesong]

I told my mum about this...

Her guess was children, daring each other to clear the trees of fruit, which she and her friends could do in a matter of minutes when young. Especially the ones who were good at climbing trees. Which I also think is the most logical.

Sorry 'bout your fruit. It does suck when one is watching, and waiting and then one morning there's just no fruit left. Had that happen to my cherries this year, because of our magpies.

[elanorh]

I'd make sure you ask all your neighbors if they saw anyone.  It could be that previous owners had let people pick and they are just assuming it's OK or that the new owners wouldn't care, either.  Also, if the neighbors didn't do it/don't know who did it, they WILL pay more attention next year. 

That's really awful.  I'm afraid it will happen to our fruit trees, too - we are along the city's walking path.  We're home a lot, so I think we'd catch people if they tried.  I know several years ago, someone picked all our chokecherries, though (also outside the fence).

[Jenni1894]

So ladies, it seems you were right.  I was robbed!!!  lol   I'm 90% sure of it.   

Last week I was taking ODD to school....as I was driving down the street back toword my house I saw a man pulling on my peach trees.   The trees do hang over the fence and you can plainly see them on the sidewalk behind the house.   I confronted him and he said he didn't speak english.  So I told him those were mine, that was stealing!  

Hummm...what can I do for next year? 

[macandcheese]

ugh, that stinks! What about that black plastic bird netting that comes in huge rolls? The holes in it are maybe one inch square—not big enough for someone to pull fruit through. Maybe you could rig up something so the netting is on or around the part of the tree that is accessible from the street?