Something is nipping off strawberrys

[maverick451]

Hi Guys

I posted up a thread before about nearly ripes strawberrys disappearing and I was told it was birds but I have a new issue.

I keep finding strawberys green to nearly ripe on the ground under the plant untouched, they look like something has just nipped them off at the stalk, any ideas what creature does this?

[cheops]

Have you those pesky grey squirrels in your vicinity. They used to pull off unripe hard plums from my trees just for the hell of it. They would be found uneaten on the ground with claw marks all over them. The grey squirrel is a destructive animal.

[Jay22]

I still think it's birds...most of my plums are lying on the ground and also the flowers from my Fuschias, both in a similar way to your Strawbs.

[Markyw]

Well I have had this happen before a few times, and it was a badger, they love strawberries, and over the last few nights they have dug up some of my potatoes. badger foot prints all over the place. It was watered yesterday I expect they are looking for worms

[Invicta]

If Strawberries are disappearing completely always consider the possibility the culprit is not an animal but a human.

[veggiechicken]

I've found green strawberries, with bits of stalk attached, inside a netted cage. There are also holes/tunnels which I think belong to mice or voles.

[Kier]

mice , it happened to me , caught a shrew , then it stopped, they pile them when they are just starting to colour

[Bal]

OH actually saw a grey squirrel running off with a large ripe strawberry in its mouth. So could be squirrels

[maverick451]

Could well be Squirrels, loads of them around.

[BUFFS]

we have a squirrel my wife calls "sid" and a "very naughty boy" as he keeps pinching the strawbs, he will sit on the drive, with a big strawberry in his mouth, up on his back legs, tail twitching, looking at her as if to say "so what can you do about it then" and then just stroll down the drive, cross the road and disappear into the wood, one very happy squirrel...

[Scarlet]

Mice! They often store green strawbs for later..I don't grow strawberries for that reason. You'll often find little piles of unripe fruit hidden around the plants.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=792

[Nicos]

Scarlet, that's one mystery solved for me!!! We had piles of green strawberries a few years ago and I never got to the bottom of it!
Thankyou!

Having said that, we now have a fox which comes and helps itself every year.
If it's not one thing it's another isn't it???