Those are big!
… and expensive - a 16 footer for $250.
http://www.briteland.com/wecs.php?store=briteland&action=searchadvanced&advancedsearch_include_description=yes&include_kit_items=yes&advancedsearch_words=kooten
But it sure would be nice to try if it’s lightweight.
I bought my bird netting at WalMart…works fine, but can be annoying to put on a bigger tree.
A robin was trying to build a nest in my sweet cherry…that would have worked just great. Luckily she moved to her spot she’s used for the last few years on a light
You’re full of good ideas this morning! Yes mulberries are known to be well liked by birds. I would think t would work well. Plus once the trees get bigger, plenty for everybody! I would never harvest all the berries, they produce like crazy!
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Had an owl and the birds literally sat on it. Used scare tape and that didn’t work.
The following year I used a LOT of scare tape and I did not have one plum pecked on by a bird. Hoping for the same results this year.
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Oh man … a house with it’s own restaurant
I just bought some … sounds like “Christmas tree decoration” style.
I think I’ll hand some from scare-eye balloons
That correlates with my experience, a few times I didn’t use much and eventually they ignored it. On my 10’ tall cherry tree I hang 40-50’’ total, in 2-4’ length pieces. The stuff is cheap and can be re-used for a couple years.
When I see a robin building a nest in my fruit trees, I knock it down if it’s empty. I haven’t yet brought myself to wreck a nest full of eggs.
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I too get beat up by the birds however, since I have Purple Martins I have to live with the concerns. This year with the locus I am expecting the birds to get their fill and leave some of the fruit alone.
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This spring I set up a vinyl clothesline trellis through my BYOC style open-center trees to convert them to a narrower arrangement (translate:between SSA and espallier wannabe) for many reasons, one main impetus was ease-of-protecting. As most have observed the BYOC open vase makes bird & insect netting too hard. A narrow trellised structure not only faciltates bird/insect protection during harvest but frost protection (using poly like drop cloth) in late winter/spring.
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Kootenay reminds me of the kind of fabric that is sown into camping gear (14 cents/sq ft if you buy $169 worth). Also seems rugged.
The Agfabric is mosquito netting which can be purchased by the yard. (17 cents/sq ft.)
Tulle (polyester) is about 2 cents/sq ft. in the 4.5’ width. It comes in a 9’ width but for some reason, at 4x the cost - which is still cheaper. But I can run a stitch.
Not sure which of the 3 lets more light in. I used the lightest weight row cover one spring to protect cabbage and they took forever to finish up.
By comparison, bird netting is 4 cents/sq ft.
Just tried Avian Control Bird Repellent for the first time and the results were excellent. Very pleased! On an acre of blueberry I had about a dozen reflective tape streamers attached to 10 foot sections of PVC pipe which helped some. The Air Crow dancing man helped some, but I still had a lot of birds - more than normal and earlier than normal then I received a post card in the mail promoting Avian Control.
Took a chance and spent 200 bucks on a gallon of Avian Control which is an EPA registered version of Methyl Anthranilate. Sprayed about 25 gallons of water with 20oz of Avian control on the area and several hours later the birds were gone!
I did notice a faint taste of grape Cool Aid on a few berries I tasted the first night after the spray, buy by the second night the Cool Aid taste was gone, but so were the birds. Fortunately , no rain in the forecast for the next week to wash the material off and I’m going to keep a close eye on the bird activity.
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Thanks so much for that report, Blueberry. I may give this a try.
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Ive found that rat traps work quite well, baited with whatever the birds are eating.
I like that plan, supper!!
If you have a bird problem and have to spray for SWD too, you can tank mix the bird repellent with the SWD control. I like that a lot. In about a week I should know for sure how long it works.
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What is SWD?
I have to say that the Scary Eyes in the cherries seem to be discouraging them