Note to self regarding cherry trees

Do not wait until the day before Mother's Day to drape the plastic netting over the cherry trees. Seriously. Do it as soon as the blossoms have been pollinated, maybe a week or so after they have first opened. Birds love cherries, and don't mind too much if they're not anywhere near ripe.

About two weeks ago I saw that the blossoms were falling off my cherry trees and I noticed the swellings that were the first signs of fruit forming. By last week these had become green, pea-sized fruit. I noticed that there seemed to be fewer of these than I had expected, but I just figured that I had misremembered the number of swellings the week before.

This week I got out the netting, including the one package I just bought last week. I spread it out carefully and then used an extendable pole to lift it over the top of one of my two dwarf cherry trees. Then I cinched it at the bottom with a piece of rope. In the process I managed to break off several cherry clusters, but I could see dozens more that were now safe from hungry birds. Still, it seemed like there were even fewer fruits than there had been last week.

Then I moved on to the other tree. Spread the net, lifted it, realized that this tree is just too tall, and a 14' x 14' piece of netting just isn't going to get the job done. So I decided to wrap the net around the sides of the tree and cinch it at the bottom and as close to the top as I could get, leaving the fruit in the branches above the net as a sacrificial offering to the birds.

On closer inspection, I realised that there was no fruit on the tree. Anywhere.

Well, that was almost true. I did find a single cherry left on one of the middle branches. I got an orange mesh bag from tangerines, fed the branch through the opening to the bag and the opening I had made on the other end to get at the tangerines, carefully positioned it around the lone fruit, and closed it up with twist ties. Maybe, just maybe, I'll get to eat one cherry from this tree.

So. Next April 1st I begin a budwatch on my cherry trees. And once they have blossomed, the nets go on.