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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Blueberry cages

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  • From: Heron Breen <breen@fedcoseeds.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Blueberry cages
  • Date: Sun, 6 Jun 2004 21:06:43 -0500


Hello there, interestingly, I have seen a very large arbor in Maine, with
season
round netting or screening. I will inquire of its construction and get back
to
you. This set-up is the size of a good-sized greenhouse, looking something
like a
large turkey pen.
Heron Breen
On Sun, 06 Jun 2004 00:47 , Louisa Rogoff Thompson
<louisagardener@earthlink.net>
sent:

>In response to:
>
>From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org on behalf of daniel strum
>Sent: Wed 6/2/2004 4:53 PM
>To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
>Cc: danstrum@hotmail.com
>Subject: [NAFEX] netting for blueberry protection
>
>
>I am living in Virginia Beach, VA. and am planning an arbor with some type
>of
netting to keep the birds out of the blueberries. The arbor is quit large
20' x
35' and 7' tall. I am wanting to put up some sturdy (year around) netting. I
am
not too sure about the right size for netting. There is a rubber coated
chicken
wire with a 1" hexagon pattern that would be good for my structure, but the
holes
look too large. Any suggestions or experiences about this wire product or
alternatives would be appreciated.
>
>Dan,
>
>It really depends on the size of the fruit-eating birds in your
>neighborhood. I
started with bird netting but found that the birds perched on it and tore
through
it. Squirrels, too. I found a couple of chipmunks strangled in it.
Eventually I
stapled half inch galvanized hardware cloth to wood frames. The mockingbirds
and
catbirds that had begun to regard my blueberries as theirs would have easily
pushed through 1" chicken wire.
>
>I only used these panels during the fruiting season, and since I had
>different
cultivars ripening in sequence, I was able to shift them from one plant to -
not
the next, which had fruit already ripening while the previous plant had ripe
fruit - but to the one which ripened after that.
>
>I never had trouble with animals browsing the stems, so I didn't need year
>'round
protection. But the sides were removable, the squirrels would watch me
remove
them to harvest, and within a couple of weeks they would figure out how to
get
in. Your permanent cage would solve that problem.
>
>Make sure you do something to keep animals from burrowing underneath.
>Laying
chicken wire flat on the ground, right up to the edge, and covered with
mulch,
works very well. The critters can't dig through the wire and never try to
back up
to find the edge.
>
>Louisa Thompson
>Zone 7
>
>
>
>
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