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Something is eating my strawberries

Linda NicholsonLinda Nicholson Posts: 3
in Fruit & veg

I have just been up to my strawberry patch to find that some creature has very neatly piled loads of my little unripe green strawberries in heaps almost as if they are storing them. Any ideas as to what would do this? I was going to net the patch but dont have very many left now so might not bother.image

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Posts

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,099

    Linda that sounds very odd! I hate to say this but could it actually be a person rather than a bird or animal? I'm sure someone will shed light on it but I don't really know of anything that would do that. Are they just piled up in the open ground? A pic may help if you can too. image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • DiggerSeanDiggerSean Posts: 52

    I've heard that rats can do this sort of thing, anybody else heard of this?

  • WelshonionWelshonion Posts: 3,114

    Squirrels.  They pick the strawberries, find they are unpalatable, but can't resist picking them!

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,099

    I did wonder about squirrels Welsh but thought they would have buried them rather than piling them up. Animals are so funny aren't they- I once watched a squirrel furiously working away for ages burying peanuts from a feeder all over the garden  - only to be followed by a magpie who ate them all. Not often I would say this but I  felt really sorry for the squirrel!

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Jojo70Jojo70 Posts: 1

    Very new to gardening, have strawberries in, and quite a good crop....however, I seem to ahve a lot of half eaten fruits, mostly ground level, but some a bit higher...any ideas what is getting in (and how, they are fairly heavily netted) and what I can do to prevent it?

    Thanks

  • janejustsojanejustso Posts: 2

    Hi all, I know this is a very old thread but I've just seen the exact same issue in my strawberry patch - a couple of neat piles of mostly unripe strawberry piles hidden at the back of our planter - so odd. Definitely not the neighbours! I found a little frog hidden in a nearby strawberry patch, but not sure if frogs hoard things? Any suggestions welcome - we are loosing some very good strawberries and can't find answers on the internet :)

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384

    There was another thread about this recently and I believe the culprits were identified when caught in a trap.  Mice do have a habit of piling things up neatly for some reason.

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • janejustsojanejustso Posts: 2

    Thanks Bob. Makes sense that it could be mice (we've had a mouse family move into our compost bin in the past) rather than squirrels which most people suggest. Feel bad trapping them so might just avoid planting strawberries at ground level (we use vertical planters made from old pallets which strawberries just love). 

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384

    I like the way you think, Jane. image

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • eric.harteric.hart Posts: 1
    This thread is a couple of years old but I have been suffering from this same problem for 5 years or so now. I would love to find out what is causing it.
    I did find a toad in the strawberry bed and wondered if the heaps could belong to it? I have moved the strawberry bed; constructed wooden barriers all around it but the same happens. Heaps of uneaten and unripe fruit is piled up and the top seems to be stamped flat. The largely unripe fruit is also stained as if the culprit has urinated on it to claim it!! I have found no mouse droppings... 
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