#Tag
Update: final harvest from the squirrel-proofed apple trees. We got 4.5 kg (~9lb). It's incredible 
The Kid, who grew up knowing our trees would produce a max of 5 apples, has been exclaiming in disbelief every time he looks at them.
Besides the intense grazing pressure from the squirrels, the trees are small, as they were planted by the previous owners in a not-great location (by a fence, in a semi-shaded area). And yet. Look at how much they can do!
Sounds like I should eat one #pineapple 🍍, 20 #apples and a bushel of #bananas every day...or we could just ban #cars
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/09/250928095620.htm #airquality #diet #fruits #nutrition #Climate #brooklyn
Sounds like I should eat one #pineapple 🍍, 20 #apples and a bushel of #bananas every day...or we could just ban #cars
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/09/250928095620.htm #airquality #diet #fruits #nutrition #Climate #brooklyn
Here is the monthly photo looking up the allotment. Today's visit was the first for a month due to health reasons so it will have to do for August and September. The runner beans have finished cropping, the potatoes have been lifted and the wallflower plants in the foreground are nearly ready to be moved back home. We have started picking the apples (out of shot) with a view to making cider next month.
#Allotment #allotments #beans #vegetables #gardening #garden #apples #cider
I also got some ugly ones.
Some of the plastic covers didn't ventilate well, sometimes collecting water from the rain and leading to rot. It was also more difficult to do daily checks to monitor for ripeness. One of the apples fell from the branch into the plastic cover, and I didn't notice until today.
Strawberry containers kept being the most useful to protect apples while maintaining ventilation.
All in all, I think it was a successful experiment.
#apples
#gardening
#UrbanGarden
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Oh my gosh, look at this year's apples from my trees!
I've successfully tricked the squirrels. 
The last two years we'd gotten zero apples, maybe one. The year prior to that 2 tiny meager and green apples that were hiding in a shaded spot. This is a dream.
Here is the monthly photo looking up the allotment. Today's visit was the first for a month due to health reasons so it will have to do for August and September. The runner beans have finished cropping, the potatoes have been lifted and the wallflower plants in the foreground are nearly ready to be moved back home. We have started picking the apples (out of shot) with a view to making cider next month.
#Allotment #allotments #beans #vegetables #gardening #garden #apples #cider
And here is the first batch of apples!
Yes, they could have waited a little more, but I was impatient/ anxious that some unpredictable pest (worm) woud eat them before me.
They are delicious with nut butter.
2/2
#apples
#GrowYourOwn
Jeez, now even backyard fruit comes wrapped in plastic 😒
Just kidding! It's my squirrel-proofed tree, and it's working 😀
I used all sort of containers, and the top winners are strawberry containers and clear-plastic cherry bags. With those, there is no need to make holes for ventilation and they can be easily closed around branches. They also work where there is a cluster with more than one apple.
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A brief #Introduction or actually, re-introduction post.
I'm Sarah. I'm an entomologist. I work at Niab in the UK, studying insects important in fruit crop production. This includes #Pollinators like bees and hoverflies, as well as natural enemies of pests, and the pests themselves.
Most of my work is on UK crops like #Apples and #Strawberries but I also have an area of work on entomology in #Cocoa (there are a lot of parallels with orchards really!).
I'm always happy to infodump enthusiastically about #SolitaryBees, #Forcipomyia, #Cacao cultivation, #Strawberry varieties, and also about hamsters.
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