The birds have taken every single mulberry/raspberry/blackberry so far this year. I finally got some nets on them, but it’s a real hassle taking them on and off every time I want to harvest. In the future I want to try and avoid using them.
They’re not really pecking them, but instead eating them whole, so I imagine that they’re hungry… not thirsty. Would a bird bath still help?
It’s also said that if your tree is massive, the birds hang around up top and leave us humans the fruit down below. Is there any truth to that?
When I was a kid, our neighbors had a mulberry tree that was two stories high with a thick trunk. It produced enough berries for us kids to eat and the birds too. My mom says the same thing about an old cherry tree that used to be in her grandmother’s yard that she would climb up and sit in whenever the cherries were ripe.
But these trees must have been decades old and probably larger than yours are now or will be anytime soon (or at least I’m guessing) so I’m not sure if that info is super helpful to you at the moment.
I think it is more of a matter of growing more than they can eat. The local farms I get my ag share from just accept the bird losses because they have acres growing. Bird populations aren’t likely to grow too much, as at least some birds are territorial and a large number would attract predators anyway.
Honestly, consider a fruit cage. If you are handling bush/cane berries it’s not a bad idea and doesn’t need to be too tall. Won’t really work with trees unless they are all on the low side of semi-dwarf.
We have a huge mulberry tree (over 2 stories tall) and even with raccoons, birds, and rodents eating their fill, we just knocked down about 15-20lbs at least using a tarp, four people holding the corners, a step stool and 2@16’ poles. The fruit were plentiful in the bottom half of the tree so yeah, if you have a big mulberry tree, it can produce more than the animals can steal.
The thing I like about my mulberries is they produce at least a month and a half. That huge window of time allows me to pick cherries completely free of bird damage. You’ve got to out plant them and I know most will say it’s a matter of room but lets say carmine Jewell’s take up maybe a 6 foot area at most and after 5 years or so produce gallons of cherries each so if you plant 20 CJ in a city lot you will have cherries to throw at the moon. The birds just can’t eat them all. Mulberries are used as target fruit here but I’ve noticed since the birds and I are at peace I sure appreciate my cardinals, oreals, and mocking birds. At the ponds I have red wing black birds. A small pond adds a lot of tranquility in the city and the small fish eat the mosquito larvae. Have a friend who basically did what I did on his city lot just on a smaller scale. He used his area in the city alley he was mowing and planted black raspberries! That guy must pick them by the gallons! He has not had visible bird damage. I use my big ponds for fish production but the water helps wildlife and me. The birds in the summer are very thirsty and will eat fruit when they would rather eat bugs and drink water. I like having the birds around nowadays. At least there is peace in Kansas for the moment and I’m enjoying peace while I have it.
No one answered the question… The Blue Jays are killing me. I guess I’ll have to do an experiment.
I’ll probably have every Blue Jay in the county at my bird water and then they will see those delicious apples.
A lot of good points here.
Waiting until your trees/berries are large enough to feed you AND the wild life population is not practical.
This forum has helped me to forsee the kinds of issues that await new fruit growers. The solution I came up with is to 1st define the fruiting space. That is, what I can tend to, reach, AND protect. I cannot build a large cage as many here have done so my ‘fruiting area’ is from 1’ to 6’ in height, 2-5’ in width and as long as I can fit. This ‘space’ allows me to protect the fruit easily. A trellis helps me guide the branches where they can be protected. It also is the handy structure to support the bird netting. Bunny wire surrounds all my beds (veggie and fruit). So that is A solution but it might not work for everyone.
Oh, and one important aspect of birdnetting - the netting must NOT lay on the fruit or be within a beaks length from the fruit or it won’t protect the fruit effectively.
Whoops and one other thing to consider: Feeding the wildlife population makes it grow. Just sayin’
Here is Kansas we still have the predators and I’m actually concerned the paragon falcon and hawks may be hunting normal birds to hard. Feral Housecats etc. really have reduced the birds numbers as well. The key is balance and when something puts nature out of balance you’ve got big trouble. I’d had deer problems all spring but last night I heard some serious predators right outside my door and sure enough no deer damage. My guess is they still have not stopped running. To answer the original question water always helps everything but if your asking if it will stop it no it won’t they have now found a food and water source which is unfortunate. The old timers told me horror stories of birds when I was younger descending on their fields. No doubt spraying or other intervention in those days destroyed the birds natural food supply. I don’t want to get rid of the birds despite what people say we need them as the Mormons found out in 1848 Miracle of the gulls - Wikipedia. Their crop would have been gone and they would have starved to death had it not been for the birds. If you have no predators and to many birds but live in the city go to the shelter and pick yourself up some cats and your bird problems will be greatly reduced but your cat problems have just begun if you know what I mean. The coyotes consider cat a delicacy here so the cats may have a lot of kittens but the coyotes get 95% and then disease gets the coyotes and the cycle continues with the strongest, fastest, smartest animals that survived. What drives me crazy is like last year coyote hunters killed a bunch of coyotes and then rabbit numbers naturally go up as would be expected so once the system is altered then the problems start.