Possums and orchard trees

[alfonsina]

Once upon a time, I came almost nose to nose with a baby possum that was eating grapes in an arbor.

Now, I find that I’ve planted trees, apples and pears, not far from my horses’ pastures. I am slightly worried about the future fruit attracting possums. Do you have any experience with orchards near horse areas? Did they attract possums?

I am in New England, if that matters. The trees are not exactly thriving and are still small and could be moved. But they would look really pretty where they are now. Any thoughts? Thanks.

[punchy]

There’s some apple trees a ways off from my barn that attract critters—deer, raccoons, squirrels, rabbits, bees, my dog, and I’m not sure what else. I just see lots of critter tracks and apples with bites and holes and scratches on them. They’re in a tangle of forest though, so a bit hard to pick up all the apples.(I pick up what I can reach that hasn’t been eaten and leave the rest for the critters) I’ve also got some designated apple trees in a clearing, and I pick all the apples before they fall on the ground and don’t notice much if any critter activity there. And I’ve got a crab apple tree in my pasture, which my horses run to first thing in the morning.

I’ve got a couple of mulberry trees closer to the barn, which the raccoons will climb up and lay in like cats, getting drunk on mulberries and pooping all around the tree, which is annoying. I think that’s worse than the apple trees. (Plus, I love mulberries, but between the raccoons, squirrels, and birds, there’s none left for me)

In general though, I think if you keep the area around the tree tidy and pick the fruit a few times a day they won’t be a problem.

[S1969]

Opossums will eat fruit but it’s not the mainstay of their diet. I wouldn’t really think that fruit trees would increase an opossum population, but if one was wandering through your property, might eat something if they find it.

I will say that if you don’t have a plan for deer and rabbits - that might be the end of those trees. One of the other (or both) girdled two of my young fruit trees (apples and cherry) when they were only a couple years old. Now, dead.

[2DogsFarm]

My farm had a small orchard - 3 apple, 2 pear - planted right outside my LR windows.
I never saw oppossum there, but they were attracted to my chicken coop & fenced henyard.
On the rare occasion I’d see one in my barn late at night < chased out at the end of a pitchfork

[Texarkana]

We rented a farm on a vineyard that also had a ton of fruit trees.

The dumpster, cat food, and spacious hayloft were greater possum attractants than any of the fruit. I can’t recall ever seeing a possum eating any fruit- although I would see foxes and deer dining on it.

We had a lot of wildlife around, but I think that was mostly because the farm was on 1000 acres of cropland.

[alfonsina]

Thanks so much for these responses! My worry level has gone way down.