Birds eating buds

jamesharcourt

I have some totally missing buds - quite a lot missing actually - on my 5-and-a-half-foot-tall Acer Osakazuki planted in a sheltered, shady position.  From another post (in the wrong discussion group!) I think the culprit is birds!

Is it worth pruning back some of these branches to a healthy bud, if the missing buds are the ones at the end?  It is a single stem specimin without any particularly long branches but I'm worried about bare branches when the buds break and I don't know if leaves form at the missing buds point eventually, or not??

purplerallim

Best for any Acer to be left to see what happens, plus now is the wrong time to do any cutting of branches. Birds do take buds,and not just from trees, I have them at my Acer and Plum, and all my spring flower buds are nibbled.🙄

Brexiteer

Are the branches red ?

jamesharcourt

@Old Arthritic marc   It's an Osakazuki and it has branches that are dark green.  The branches are alive, it's not dieback ... it's just pecked-out buds.  

Obelixx

Leave it be and wait and see what happens as new buds may form.  The sap is flowing now so pruning is a bad idea.   

Put feeders out with something juicy like fat blocks with meal worms to tempt the birds off your plants.   Later on those birds will be handy for pecking off all the aphids and caterpillars to feed their chicks and will be a plus for your plants.