It has been working on the things I have managed to get well-covered (i.e. pieces of tape every couple of feet apart, put on well before ripening). Some trees have lighter crops which I have not put any tape on and some of those have had bird issues.
As I think I mentioned above you want long pieces hanging down as they seem more effective that way. I have them 3-5’ long.
One problem I have is too many things ripening and too little time to move the tape… I need to spend more time moving tape around than I do. Now most of my tape is on plums which are all done; I need to move it to peaches and apples.
I am trying (again) a motion detecting sprinkler (company made, forget the name, something scarecrow). Right now I have it aimed at my two rows of strawberries and it seems to be working. Not finding the typical half eaten berries a short ways from the rows this year and we’ve had plenty to harvest.
I leave it on all night so I don’t have to get up to beat the birds in the morning. Only disadvantage to it is when I forget about it and it gives me a shower. Works pretty well for strawberries; I think it would do OK on raspberries too (maybe only a single row of them). But expect it could only protect one side of a tree crop.
This year crows have decimated the pear tree before the pears are ready to be picked…
The fake crows hung upside down and the balloons with reflective tape don’t work.
They fly away complaining to each other when they see me coming.
I expect they’ll be moving on to the other fruit trees after they stripped off the pears…
I’m making the attempt. A hawk kite that mostly sits limp and some reflective spinners. I don’t have the highest hopes but the birds seem fond of honeycrisp this time of the year. So far chestnut crab hasn’t been targeted.
I use a product called Scare Crow on my strawberry bed. basically a motion detector attached to a sprinkler head. when it detects motion it turns on the sprinkler for 5 sec or so.
Depending on how tall your trees are, you might be able to aim it up some and get them covered.
I put flash tape all around my blueberry bushes… when I first put it out it seems to work some… but after a week or so I see birds fly in land in the bushes with flash tape flapping all around them and they pay it no attention.
I have to bag blueberries … else my birds get way more than I do.
The pill bugs are the ones eating my strawberries, I need a Scare Pill bug thingy, but this year the crows are absent, totally absent, so are the wood pigeons.
I suspect crows would be more interested in the berries than the pill bugs. But Sluggo Plus does a pretty good job on pill bugs (and slugs). But you have to keep applying it.
I’ve used it for about 7 years. I’ve actually gotten some relief from deer if I manage to put it on the side where they approach my trees. They have sheared off some young leaves but left the fruit intact recently so I just turned it on.
I used it this past spring to scare my chickens away from a bed I was seeding, plus I had the added benefit of getting some water sprayed now and then. It’s getting old but still works consistently.
And cherries too. Crows and birds luuuuuv cherries, as you’d suspect. And they bring their crow friends.
I hang fake crows upside down and flashing discs to try to discourage them and birds but I’m just kidding myself about their effectiveness.
The blueberries are in a walk-in cage so they’re safe unless birds can make their way in. They manage to do that sometimes but it’s rare.
American netting draped over PCV pipes arched over rebar rods in ground. Weigh down edges with boards or water-filled milk jugs. Short bushes can be enclosed in chicken wire cylinders clamped shut on top with office binder clips or short pieces of wire. Birds can be very determined.
A bit late, but Sluggo Plus does a good job on pill bugs. You have to keep re-applying it as it tends to disintegrate with rain/watering. But it does kill them eventually…
Lot’s of wonderful suggestions everyone. I’m in the, “parkland” area of Saskatchewan, which means my yard is like an aviary and a zoo all at once.
You can guess what that means to our fruit, constant battle. Going to do a bunch of research based on everyone’s suggestions this winter.
Lot’s of raptors around here as well. Trying to figure out some way to have raptor looking moving decoys to keep them scared.
Don’t really want to scare off the hummingbirds, goldfinches or oriole’s, but I can do without the robins and blackbirds.
For netting on trees I bought some bamboo off amazon (about 3/8" D and maybe 5’ long. Wire tie them together to extend the length then wire tie a cross piece, hang the netting over that. Lot of work but all I can come up with so far. Berries we just cut 4’ pieces of 2x4 bang them into the ground, screw a horizontal piece maybe 2.5’ on top, hang the netting on that, shovel dirt on the edges.
My bird problem is a lot less severe than other people posting here, but I’ve had good luck protecting my apples this year with a combination of zip lock bags for the fruit, and having two bird feeders and several bowls of water. I’ve used the jewelry bags, but birds seem to peck through those with no trouble, so I just use those for peaches and plums. The apples will occasionally sun burn in the plastic bags, but that is infrequent. I have been getting about 80% edible fruit, by which I mean fruit that is perfect or with a single bird peck that I can cut out easily.
As an experiment, I set up a bird bath under a tree, and rested a couple bagged apples on it. They are queen cox, which doesn’t have much color to them, but the birds have left them alone.
I tried the scare tape, didn’t work for me, but it sounds like your mileage may vary.
