Nothing more frustrated than watching the hard work getting destroyed by the wild animals. Some of them can be very destructive, chew up the tender leaves and devours the fruits that almost ripe. We waited and waited for the whole season (The time starting from the formation of figlet to ripe and go anywhere between 65 to 120 days) and try to pick the fig at the right time when they reach the peak sweetness. The animals don’t care. They are after the figs a soon as the fig shows a little bit color change. How do I defend it?
Organza bags can be bagged over the figs as soon as it changes it colors. This is effective against birds, squirrels and small animals. However, I did see some incidences that the bird peak through the big and the squirrels pick the the hold bags and chew through it. Although, the animal does have preference of eating the un-bagged ones.
Animal repellents, such as liquid fence, are affect against deer, rabbits, squirrels, opossum and other small mammals. It repel animal by its scent. The animal will stay away from the plants sprayed with the repellents. The repellent does smells for a few days but the smell will go away in a few days. It needs to be re-applied a every month, more often if rains a lots.
Electronic animal repellent has build in animal sensor. It repellents repel animal by various methods:
Ultra sound can repels animals sensitive to ultrasound frequency
Human audible sound which can scare birds as well as some animals
Vibration can scare ground inhabitants, such as mice and mole
The blinking red light can also scare animals away
I found it affective only for certain degree. However, it can be very effective when combine with scent animal repellents. Sometime, the motions sensor light and security camera with motion sensor also works.
See the liquid fence and sensor light working together to scare the deer away from my yard. The deer seems to be very alert when smell the scent of the liquid fence and got scared away by the sensor light.
Bid net is effective again all kinds of animals, not just birds. The mesh size should be small enough to prevent the bird getting through (3/4 inch). I hang a 25 x 50 ft net over the fig trees with a pair of Shepherds Hooks. Using plants stakes as additional support (I used tennis ball on the top of the plant stack to prevent it from sliding down). I stapled a long zipper onto the net allow me the enter the net enclosure easier. Finally, I spayed some liquid fence to keep the animal away from the net. Larger animals, such as deer, might attempt to destroy the net if not spayed.
