Bird-proofing the Cherry Tree

We have a cherry tree in our backyard that was part of our wedding ceremony.  We actually moved it from our first house to this one in 2010.  Last year we ate exactly ZERO cherries off of it. The birds got all of them and it was disappointing for everyone.

Cherry season in the Northwest is a big deal. We look forward to it almost as much as the Oregon strawberry season (which may open next week!) I bought some of the first cherries of the season last week for $4/pound from Kruger's (a local year round open air farm market)...they were so sweet and delicious.  I unfortunately decided to share them with the family and they disappeared in seconds--poor planning on my part.

This year we built a bamboo frame around the tree and now that it is finished blooming, it was time to net the tree.

Cherry in bloom with the bamboo frame

Cherry with netting

This year we will enjoy some cherries!  Hopefully.  I noticed this week that a large number of the cherries have dropped from the tree.  This tree has never done this before, so I looked it up on the handy internet.  Apparently fruit trees do something called the "June Drop".  The trees will drop some of their fruit if they feel they have too many to successfully ripen during the season. Yet, on another site I read that cherries are usually the exception to the rule...the internet can be so confusing!

The tree has not dropped all the cherries, there are still a good number on the branches, so I am still leaning toward a June Drop situation.