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currant bush stripped bare

sthlndngrowersthlndngrower Posts: 160
in Fruit & veg
My white currant has been stripped bare. It is in a fruit cage, so pretty secure form birds and other wildlife. If it was wildlife, I don't think the whole bush would have been as completely stripped as it is, also, there is no damage to branches. Pretty much every currant has been stripped off the trusses, there was about 2 left! I am pretty sure someone has gone in and taken the currants, but obviously I can't be certain...
We have had several thefts, mostly of fruit at the allotment site... just wondering if any GWers have any suggestions or ideas about this. 

Posts

  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    That must be so annoying!  It certainly looks as though somebody has pinched them which is despicable. Commiserations.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,355
    If it was an 'uman would they have left footprints or other tell tale signs? If you're convinced it was a person then a well placed, hidden trail-cam might be the way to go.

    Personally, I'd still put odds on birds and / or mice. My redcurrant bushes were stripped bare over 2 days and the blackcurrant bush over 1 - both well before the fruit was ripe. I won't use netting because I've had birds trapped (uninjured fortunately) but it means that I've enjoyed about 6 currants from 3 bushes over the last 2 seasons.

    You'll know better than me how secure your fruit cages are but a wily blackbird or pigeon will find it's way through the smallest gap and I had mice or shrews setting up home under the bushes last year....
    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
  • PlashingPlashing Posts: 328
    My first thoughts was that it may have been gooseberry sawfly they can strip a bush in a night,I know it looks as though somebody might have been and stripped them, you will have to look to see if you can find any grubs on the bush,other than that I don't know.
  • sthlndngrowersthlndngrower Posts: 160
    Thankyou, i am rather more forgiving of wildlife!
    Will check for grubs!
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    From the way they've been picked, I don't think it's humans.  If you were going to steal fruit from someone's garden, would you hang around picking currants one by one?  No, you'd take off the whole cluster and strip them when you got them home.
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    That was my first thought @Josusa47, but you can strip currants very quickly with a table fork that way.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,723
    That looks like an animal has gotten in, I can't see a human picking them all off perfectly and leaving the stalks, also what thief would put the netting back?
    I know that when I strip currants off a bush like that I end up leaving a lot of bits of skin behind rather than those lovely neat stalks.
  • BraidmanBraidman Posts: 274
    Wood pigeons on our plots have taken a liking to the berries over the last few season, one lands on a branch which brings it to ground level, the rest then tuck in.
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