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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Robins and Evans Cherries/ beads as decoys

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  • From: "Erdman, James" <erdmanj@uwstout.edu>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Robins and Evans Cherries/ beads as decoys
  • Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:42:17 +0000


I finally tried this, this year, on my cherries. I had been considering
using beads,
but couldn't decide exactly what kind of beads to use, not sure of size,
shape, or
color, but then I found a box of a few hundred each of different colored
beads
at a garage sale, cheap, and the assortment included some red ones, so I
bought
them. I had some copper wire that fit the hole in the beads and I flattened
the
end of the piece of wire so the bead was stuck on the wire, then put them on
the
tree with a couple of turns around the limb. I installed about 20 per tree
when the
cherries were about full size but hadn't turned color. In the past I used
netting
which snagged branches (inspite of a frame of PVC pipe designed to hold the
netting away from the branches) and also deteriorated over the years. This
year
I had almost no bird damage, but did see robins and other pest birds in the
area.
I should mention that I have put a few wren houses in the orchard too, with
the idea that the territorial wrens might keep other birds away. So I cannot
prove it was beads or wrens or a combination or just luck, but I am certainly
going to do the bead thing again next year.

A question for Jim Fruth: Do you take the beads off after cherry season, or
leave them on year around? I was planning to remove them this fall, put them
back on next season.

I'll post some pictures on Facebook if I get time.

Jim Erdman, Menomonie, WI, an hour east of St Paul/Minneapolis

________________________________________


I keep forgetting to try this. Do you use red beads that are the same
size as cherries or are they a lot smaller?

~mIEKAL



On Tue, Jul 26, 2011 at 9:27 AM, Jim Fruth <jimfruth@charter.net> wrote:
> I keep (LOTS of) red berry beads on my Evans Cherry trees the whole year
> around. The Robins peck on them, deciding they are inedible and don't come
> back when the trees are full of cherries. If you do this for yourself, be
> sure and attach the beads with dead-soft aluminum wire that expands as the
> branches grow.




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