Rats like my apple trees. Advice?

Wipe Vaseline around the trunks, so they are slippy.
I use Vapour rub ( cheap sort nit Vicks) to deter cats from messing in my garden. The smell might also deter the rats.

I don’t think there is a solution as such, rats will eat fallen apples, and there are rats all around us, so although you can deter them, lay poison or trap them, more will be living nearby regardless, and will come for food. I collect fallen apples daily, which is the only solution I’ve found, other than picking them all from the tree before they fall. I’ve never seen rats climbing trees for them.

Can you not kind of put plastic plate around the tree trunk, maybe have something designed. like plates they put on guide ropes on a ship to stop rats.

Rats will climb anything to get to a food supply.

What a nuisance for you .

We've had rat problems from when a neighbouring house was almost demolished and rebuilt . They have chomped their way through plastic piping flooding the house and fusing the kitchen by eating the electrical wiring .

Since my neighbour has adopted four cats and replaces each one as it gets hit by a car -the problem has stopped . I can forgive the damage that they do to my garden.

A cat is a brilliant deterrent.

Cut back any branches which allow the rodents easy access to the tree.
Put metal sheeting around the underneath .
Plant lavender ,rosemary and catnip beneath the tree.
Try sprinkling pepper chilli and curry powder around.
If you add peppermint oil to vaseline it mimics vapour rub and that's another great idea .
Good luck .

Always have lots of partially eaten apples under my trees but assumed it was birds or squirrels, never imagined rats. Have enough problems with the rabbits, squirrels and deer!

Do you know someone with a terrier type dog? Invite them round and let them piddle, sniff around and bark in your garden. Rats will not be bothered by cats but are afraid with good reason of terriers.

We had a problem with rats in our shed which bordered a neighbours garden. He used to throw bird seed on the ground and they would then hide in our shed. I mixed up a large dish of cayenne pepper chilli pepper, white pepper, garlic salt and anythings else that was really strong smelling and threw it all over the shed floor and outside as well. It worked very well. I repeated it again a few days later just to make sure the shed was as inhospitable as possible for them!

Maybe a type of baffle used on bird feeders to stop vermin getting up to the seeds. Not sure how agile rats are, squirrels certainly are and a baffle stops them. Depending on girth of tree you may have to create a baffle out of plastic or metal as ones for bird feeders don't expand all that much.

A sheet of aluminum around the tree stops them clinbing, apaarently. .
Quite high, as they can jump

Oh also, peppermint oil deters mice.
Its probably the only proven deterrent amongst the "old wives tales"

I don't know if it works on rats, but might also be worth a try.

Actually. the solution is two rat-catching cats that love climbing your apple trees,

Works very well in my garden.

I use the sticky bands around my trees to prevent ants and woodlice. Not sure if the would deter rats but they do really make my own fingers horrible putting them on

a pair of Parson Jack Russell Terriers

Sorry your only effective solution is rat poison in safe boxes and get your neighbours to do the same or it will cost a lot to kill all theirs as well.
Once rodents of any kind are allowed to build up numbers it takes determined effort to control them.

David49

Sorry your only effective solution is rat poison in safe boxes and get your neighbours to do the same or it will cost a lot to kill all theirs as well.
Once rodents of any kind are allowed to build up numbers it takes determined effort to control them.

Why is the first reach for some people “kill them”?

Because they're notoriously difficult to get under control, i suppose.

MT62

Rats will climb anything to get to a food supply.

I was just going to say that😄 rats are excellent climbers.

Surely if you leave a few fallen apples they will take those rather than going up into the tree?

Is it rodents that are connected to the hantavirus?

MissAdventure

Is it rodents that are connected to the hantavirus?

It's not just Hanta virus by any means, there are many diseases that rodents transmit, commercial property owners and farmers have to have a rodent control (poison) programme to protect tenants and customers.

Disease aside you do not want a Rat or a Squirrel in your house or loft they do a lot of damage to wires and anything else the can chew.

I've had a mouse or two in my flat, and had to resort to a non humane trap.
I checked for weeks beforehand, reading all the pros and cons of everything, and it really was the best way to eradicate Mr. Mouse.

Even David Attenborough doesn’t like rats!

Ive read that somewhere, too.
Vets apparently don't like having to deal with hamsters, because of how much their bites hurt.