Mango experiment this season to try to mitigate squirrel destruction

[weiss613]

Please join me in this experiment and let us know how it went for you too.

https://youtu.be/OnTQrIGd8GA

[Brev Grower]

I have been using this method for a few years now and they are probably only a slight deterrent to squirrels. As soon as they realize there are mangoes inside, it's game on and they will chew through the plastic to get at them. Metal cages may be more effective. I do find though, that those clamshells are a good deterrent for birds.

[mbmango]

That's some mean squirrels!  I use the clamshells for guava and so far it's worked 100%.  I still lose most that aren't protected.  For smaller clamshells, I've seen them nibbling on parts that come in contact with any holes in the clamshells.  Not too bad for guavas that can callous over.  I don't yet have mangos to test it on them.  I did try them on avocados before, for rats instead, but I found they would chew the stem, or just knock them off with their weight presumably, so the avocado would fall down, and then sometimes make it through the packaging.  At least with guava, the clamshell is wrapped around the whole branch so it's secured pretty well.

[weiss613]

Saw a video of a guy in Australia who cuts squares of fiberglass screening and he wraps the screening around the fruit then uses a plastic tie around the collected screen and wraps it all on the stem and ties it down with the tie. I think I’ll try this in addition to the clamshells. Nothing will be 100% but wouldn’t you love to have some undamaged Keitts in October/November. Maybe even in September!!

[monkeyfish]

 I tried an experiment, wrapping six individual mangoes with aluminum fly screen and securing with a stapler top and bottom. Three of the mangoes were saved, the other three had holes chewed right through the wire mesh. I have pet chinchillas, very similar to squirrels in some respects, and they chew through chicken wire.  Flyscreen helps, clamshell helps, but its not a guarantee. Now I'm thinking that hardware cloth is the answer.

[mbmango]

I'm currently trying bird netting on loquat.  I just had a squirrel find its way in through one of the gaps where I didn't tie it closed properly, but it hadn't chewed its way in or out.  I'm hoping they might not be as motivated to chew through it if it's far enough away from the fruit.  I imagine if any material is right up next to the fruit, then the rodent would be more likely to go right through it.

[weiss613]

After further consideration I’m not gonna do anything until the end of the season with Keitt mangoes.
Why? Because I strongly believe that there’s an inflection point where squirrels decide that a mango is ripe and ready to eat and that’s when the trouble starts. So my experience has been that if you get the mango off the tree before that point then the squirrels will. Oy attack the mangoes. Where the trouble is is on the last mangoes of the season because Keitts can stay on the tree in Miami until October November but they can’t because if they’re on the tree alone the squirrels destroy them. That’s the only mango that can stay on the tree that long and they can’t because the squirrels destroy them. So this variety is the one that I’m going to do the experiment with but I’m gonna need a bigger container because this variety gets huge.