Q. Something has been eating my almonds! I heard it was
ground squirrels or rats. I’ve never seen either in my yard or neighborhood in
the 12 years we’ve lived here. Any other possibilities?
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| When almonds are gnawed from the husk and shell it is most likely ground squirrels this time of year |
A. The varmint was chewing the outside husk and stealing
the almond inside the husk, leaving part of the husk behind. They drop the husk
chewed off onto the ground. This sounds like ground squirrels to me. Ground
squirrels are the number one pest for stealing almonds. I have had ground
squirrels clean out an entire 15 year old almond tree of nuts overnight.
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| Pomegranate fruit is lying on the ground. A no-no. Always prune the tree so that these limbs support the weight of its fruit. As the limbs get older and stronger, removal of side limbs to about knee height is good enough. When the limbs are young they are more flexible and cannot support the fruit adequately. |
But rats will eat anything so
they have a lot more to pick from in the summer. Like garbage. I don’t know if
they will want the nuts at this time of year. Because it is just the nuts and
there is plenty of other food around, I am putting my money on the ground squirrels.
I don’t know of any other critter that will take almonds this time of year. To
control this problem, I removed the ground squirrels with concealed poison bait
but traps are available.