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Where have my greengages gone?

emmiecooper78emmiecooper78 Posts: 23
in Fruit & veg
Hi all. We have a greengage tree in our garden which was covered in fruit. Due to weather etc we’ve not been in the garden much over the last couple of weeks. 

The other day hubby finally got outside to cut the grass and noticed that every single greengage had vanished. Nothing on the ground either!  

What could have done this?  We’ve not been anywhere and hubby works from home in view of the tree so we doubt someone’s come in and taken them, especially as even the ones at the top have gone.

Does anyone have any ideas or will this always be a mystery??

thanks.

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Squirrels?

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • emmiecooper78emmiecooper78 Posts: 23
    Never seen a squirrel in our garden and been here nearly 5 yrs.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    We find squirrels appear at this time of year when there’s fruit in the garden and nuts in the hedgerows ... otherwise they live in the trees on the golf course. 
    But members of the crow family will also take fruit  - crows, rooks, magpies, jays ... any of those about? Are they only just ripe where you are? ... around here they were ripe in July. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • emmiecooper78emmiecooper78 Posts: 23
    Last time we checked (which admittedly was a few weeks ago now) they were still hard.  There’s no sign anything has dropped, usually we fine them in the lawn and boarders under the tree. Every single one has vanished. My hubby sits next to the patio door with a direct view of the tree as it’s a small garden and hasn’t seen anything in the tree beyond the usual garden birds, mostly finches and the like.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited September 2020
    Very odd 🤔 although of course both squirrels and crows are usually up and about doing their marauding much earlier in the morning than most folk settle down to work ... but to be honest greengages will ripen within a day or so, and if the magpies and squirrels thought you didn’t want them... 😉 
    I don’t have a greengage tree at this garden but fortunately my gardener daughter has a customer who has a very prolific tree ... he gave her a big bag full and she gave me some that are in the freezer waiting ... that was at the end of July if I remember correctly... they do make the best jam in the world 😋 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,723
    My greengages also vanished as they ripened, in my case it was birds I could see them eating them in the tree, all they left me were the stones. They were ripe at the very beginning of August. I got the ones I could reach but my tree is around 6m tall so that wasn't a very high percentage.
  • Ferdinand2000Ferdinand2000 Posts: 537
    This year I have occasionally seen a squirrel pottering across my conservatory roof with a stolen pear.
      
    “Rivers know this ... we will get there in the end.”
  • strelitzia32strelitzia32 Posts: 758
    If it helps, my greengages have been late this year. They're normally around end of July as others have said, but they've only started ripening late August and I still have some on the tree.

    And yes, I think your gages are inside a squirrel by now  :D
  • Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 2,933
    Exactly the same thing happened to me 2 years ago with one of my apple trees. Not a single apple left on the tree and not one on the ground. To begin with I suspected some 2 legged young neighbours but eventually concluded it had been deer. 
    Not much comfort for you, just an alternative possibilty.
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