#@^*$%& birds have gotten 90% of my figs as soon as they ripen, so I’m reading to net the tree. Once upon a time I tried the kind of very thin black plastic bird netting with 1" holes, and a sparrow got tangled up in it and died. I felt terrible. Is there a better type of bird net? I need something that I can toss over my fig tree, so it can’t be very stiff.
I have American nettings. I bought Last winter on sale. They might have the same sales this winter. You might find these two threads useful:
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Thanks @Susu … is it the Knitted Bird Netting that you use? Any issues with birds getting tangled in it?
Yes that’s the one I use. Birds do get tangled in it. For the most part I’ve managed to help them out. But once I came home from vacation and found two dead birds hanging from the net. If you have a small orchard and you walk around in it daily, it’s no issue. You can just untangle them. I’ve only once used scissors.
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I net lots of trees with the same type of netting and it is very rare for birds to get tangled in them here. You might try putting out a scare-eye balloon- that might make them more cautious.
I secure the net firmly to the trunk below branches pulling the net fairly tight- this probably reduces the chance of birds getting stuck- the only time I’ve had birds stuck in a net is when it was loosely draped and not pulled firmly.
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I stopped using that horrible black, fishnet netting because I could go out to my orchard every day and find a wren bolluxed up in the netting. American netting let them take their nip then they are gone. I have the most fruit using American netting. Worth the price!!!
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Just came home to find a crow chowing down on my figs 
Suddenly I am not so worried that netting might accidentally kill the offending birds … didn’t realize that it was crows!
Just don’t use the cheap black plastic bird netting that is sold everywhere! That is the bird killing netting.
Which netting are you using from American Netting? I looked at their site and they have quite a few selections.
I have 32 fruit trees that a lot of the fruit ( first year to fruit) was eaten by some animals this year. Big disappointment since I was hoping to taste some varieties for the first time.
Mike, I tried the knitted bird netting for the first time this year based on recommendations from this forum. Very happy with it so far.
A few of my trees have grown to a fairly large size so I got the 30’ x 30’ net. Here it is on one of my trees.
I find crows can be eliminated just by draping netting over the trees without tying them down. Of course, there is a chance that other birds could get caught in such nets, but in my region that is rarely a problem.
Spokane Peach, you may find that smaller birds will slip into your nets from underneath- here we have to tie nets firmly to trunks to keep most species of birds out.
I will prune trees to fit a 30X30 net in high pressure areas. One site will suffer terrible losses to birds and another a mile away has no problem.
Spokane peach answered the question! Run don’t walk. Also they have sales so look out for those!
Alan, you are correct. Since that particular tree is so large, I cannot tie it off at the bottom to totally seal out the birds. However, it does provide a pretty good deterrent and losses were pretty minimal, although not zero.
So what size(s) of this tree netting works the best? I see Spokane Peach chose a 30x30 net size. I have a few of the other bird netting I used last year. I hate to get too big or too small of net size. They can get unwieldy if they are too big. Plus storing them , if too big , gets to be an issue.
I had one bigger netting size I used around three peach trees. It is in storage for a couple of months I cannot get to the pod to check what size it actually is. I need to order these ASAP to have them on hand. I hated to pick some of my apples this year earlier than what I needed to. I got tired of going out and finding less and less apples each day. I even sprayed the fruit with hot pepper spray. Still there was fruit gone the next day. Not sure if it is deer or raccoons. Does’t matter, the fruit is gone either way.
If its working, it doesn’t matter. The only option is either pruning trees to fit nets or buying `15’ rows of the stuff and knitting pieces into 45X45’ squares.
Maybe in my lifetime the market will start to better serve the needs of small orchard fruit growers. All a business needs to do is set up a deal with a Chinese manufacturer- if we don’t have a trade war that excludes that possibility.
The netting is not nearly as expensive to make to justify American Nettings bloated prices. I used to get a much better deal on the stuff, and still can in 15’ wide rolls, but it takes too much time to sew the pieces together.
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The 15x15 netting will work on smaller trees, try it first if concerned about size. These nets last too, hard to rip, easy to remove. The 15x15 isn’t too bad a price either.
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I agree that they last long- especially if you only keep them on the tree during the period fruit needs protection and store them away from the sun the rest of the time (better for the trees that way too). I have some 15-20 year old nets that have been repaired often but the plastic is still strong.
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I want to buy a few of the 30x30 size. Expensive, yet I need them. Here too you must tie the bottoms up as the birds will get in. My trees are mature now at 6 years, man that time went by in a NY minute. I keep them small, they have grown wide though, and the bigger netting will be easier to put on the tree. With a 7 foot stake I can take these off by myself, put them on too, but it helps to have help when putting on, makes it easier.
Still waiting for Indian Free to ripen. No animals are attacking it, so no net on it, but I may need to if I see any action. I need another week or two before ripe. Starting to swell nicely!
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Me too. I’m starting to get ripe victoria peaches that are decent and just picked and ate a couple nice and tangy late nectarines purchased as the latest available nect from a Dave Wilson outlet. The label came off, but I can look it up. It isn’t under patent, as I recall. The fruit is very small, but it is only the second year of the tree and it grew like crazy, shading the fruit way inside the canopy.
As it ripens it starts to get brown rot (hasn’t been sprayed for over a month) so I pick it just before I would otherwise. I won’t be able to give it an accurate evaluation until I’ve pruned it for crop and it sets fruit- hopefully next season. On a bearing tree the fruit I’m eating would definitely be b-grade in a binary grading system, but it somehow has enough sugar and acid to appeal. Better than the Victorias, which are OK for a grey late Sept. and have good size.
I’m surprised anything is edible given how cool and cloudy it’s been. Surprisingly, once the rain stopped the figs sweetened up even without any good sun.
I always enjoy fruit the most, right off the tree.
Is it worth trying bird netting to keep out squirrels? I know they could chew through it if they tried, but I’m wondering if it would be worth giving it a shot, since I don’t really have any other way of keeping the little devils out of my big peach tree.
Has anybody had success using netting to keep squirrels out?