If you Google Camp Mosquito Net Walmart, there are a couple different styles available for reasonable prices.
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I used to think that too, they donât take them all. Birds eat a lot of bugs and bring life to the garden as well.
I didnât secure the net and left a little opening at the bottom when I netted the first Oneal blueberry. After a few days the birds figured out how to get in. This time I took a few minutes and pulled in the bottom as can be seen in the picture. As of yesterday everything appears secure. When I get up close I can see in and check the ripening process. Birds donât appear to be interested in pecking through the net as they did with my last years bird block net. Iâm considering getting a few more nets and trying one over a smaller plum tree after it blooms. Looks to me like it could be an effective insect barrier as well. The openings of the net are small and glide over the bush when installing and come off just a easy. The net has held up well as of now but I think there is a need to make sure there is nothing for the net to snag on when loading it. One person can cover a bush like these.
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No they take them all, been there, done that, have the t-shirt.Do you have robins there? Those things will sneak into the yard by walking in. Our state bird, although not sure why?
They do wait till they ripen a little. They also like my service berries, even more. Not sure what they taste like? The robins got them all the last 2 years.
Robins donât but the sparrows do a great job. They seem to only like seeds, works for me! They also pick bugs out of the air.
Robins eat all my earthworms, never seen them eat other bugs, but probably eat anything on the grass.
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Last year was the first time I tried the tulle fabric instead of bird netting. I think the structure is similar to the mosquito netting but you can get any length as needed. The birds didnât peck on the fruits because they couldnât hang on with their claws, unlike with netting. Others like grasshoppers could make small holes trying to get in. Overall there were a lot of unblemished fruits left. Taking the cover off would make some damage but I am able to reuse most of them this year using clothespins to roughly closing the gaps. I was putting some on a big pluot tree yesterday because it started turning color, and the birds were coming. Trimmed off the excess brands with no fruits, and it took two people to glide the fabric over the top. I would take them off after harvesting the fruits, otherwise the new growth would strain the fabric too much.
Last year I lost a lot of fruits from the heat wave so I planted some early peaches. They had PLC badly so I removed most of the leaves and put the tulle on. The new leaves mostly look normal, the peaches start getting big, and I am happy. They are small trees in the pot though.
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I have walking birds too so I have been walking around with a water gun and it seems they no longer come when they see me. The pinwheels on top of the trellis help also.
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I was just out and they are already at work taking all my ripe strawberries. I just netted the rest.
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Bought two more nets this morning. I left one in the store.
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Mosquito netting sounds great. Bird netting gets caught on everything when I try putting it on figs, muscadines and blueberries. It even catches on the buttons of my shirt. Later itâs tough to get off too. Thanks for the idea. AU Baseball looked great today ! War Eagle ! Tom
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The net works well. The big question is how long will it last. War Eagle.
Cheap black bird nettings sold at Loweâs and Home Depot catch everything and cause more damage that they are worth.
Better quality ones do not catch things. The brand many people often mentioned here is American nettings (with plural spelling)
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I tried the tulle this year as robins get all fruit. It lasted one day before winds ripped it to shreds. Perhaps they make differing strengths of tulle?
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Try the tulle labeled as ânylon netâ
I find it of limited use because it only comes in narrow widths
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Since mine are still in pots and still pretty small from lack of fertilizing I just carry them into my screened in porch when they start to ripen. Perfect protection!
Even with nets, chipmunks and squirrels chew in and the birds follow. I would be happy to share, but mockingbirds, cow birds, robbins and the critters are just too hungry an army.
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First net test tomorrow. Four grands coming over for a few days. Some of the blues are ripening so they will have a good time. They eat any fruit when they get to pick it.
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This was the one I bought online. My trees are relatively small, even the ones in ground because of the drought. I always trim off all the sticking out branches before putting the tulle on. Also, I would overlap or cross the fabric on bigger trees.
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I got more than 300 unblemished donut peaches from a small tree on the hillside yesterday. It was slippery on the hillside so I was only able to put the tulle roughly around as high as I could, and secured with clothespins. Somehow the birds never went in the opening at the top even though there were fruits up there too. I had to remove the whole tulle piece to get the fruits. The apricot tree has the same rough cover and still no birds going in. It was easier with the apricots because I can shake or hit the branches and collect the fruits at the bottom daily. I was able to completely cover some of the stone fruit trees in containers, and can test and remove the peaches by hand, or shake the branches in case of plums. I do hear and see a lot of birds around but I donât know what kind. I have a few pinwheels around but not a lot like previous years. I was able to reuse the tulle when the fruits are done by closing the small gaps with clothespins. After this season I will glue some new materials on the bigger gaps. On a side note, I think I finally discouraged the gophers enough with pavers and the âeggs in the tunnelsâ trick at the beginning of the year. The donut peach, fig, and white sapote in the same area regrow and have a lot of fruits. Same with some citrus trees on another gopher route.
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Interesting that the birds would not enter from the top. Good to see you were able to get unblemished fruit.
I donât think itâs safe to assume that what pests do in our little yards is exactly what they do all over the country. Hell, sometimes a block away the wildlife behaves differently.
As far as blueberries go- do you have cat birds? Orioles? Even crows?
I have Amelenchier (Juneberry) trees whose fruit are all taken by the birds in June- I leave a few blueberries unprotected so that is what they eat next. I harvest gallons from the plants I protect with a chicken wire cage with a hinged door- thatâs the best solution, by far, but I have to kill the chipmunks with rat traps that squeeze through the 1" chicken wire.
The unprotected plants? Even with lots of mulberries that they also glut on, I would never get a ripe blueberry if I relied on my unprotected plants- and I shoot my crows.
You live at one of the tamest possible places on earth to grow fruit (lucky man)- donât assume itâs the same sport for people that live in wilder areas.