North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Heron Breen <breen@fedcoseeds.com>]

Hi, back with info: The material recommended to me is a spun polypropelene 
made by 
a company by the name of Sisal out of New Jersey. I hope that is correct. 
I'll 
have the actual product brochure and a sample to reflect upon. This material 
has 
been used for a number of years by an avid plantsman here in Maine for his 
high 
Bush Blueberry interests. A help I hope.
Heron
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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