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On Jul 30, 2006, at 1:43 PM, E.C. PASOUR wrote:

> I use netting to help keep birds out of my home blueberry planting.  
> What
> is the best kind of netting to use. I have seen references to a  
> stronger
> kind of netting, not usually found at garden supply outlets.
> E. C. Pasour, Jr.

I have a row of "half high" blueberries.  I used to just throw bird  
netting over them, but I snared too many chipmunks and junkos.  I  
felt bad about the dead creatures, and didn't enjoy removing them  
from the netting.  Also, I needed fencing not only during fruiting,  
but also over the winter, when the bunnies find the buds tasty.

I now have 2 feet of chicken wire to keep out the rabbits.  Outside  
that, I have one foot of hardware cloth because the small birds and  
chipmunks can squeeze through chicken wire - this keeps them from  
doing so at ground level.  The posts that all that fencing is  
attached to are about as tall as the blueberries.  (In my case, 3-4  
feet)  When the plants have berries, I drape ordinary cheap bird  
netting over the top, overlapping a bit with the fencing, but not  
reaching the ground.  This does a fine job of excluding birds, and I  
haven't snared anything since I started using this system.  As you  
can probably guess, this system developed bit-by-bit, and I'm sure  
other systems would work just as well.

Funny story:  The day I put out the netting this year a bird watched  
me closely.  As soon as I was done, it flew along the the entire row,  
resting on a fence post every 2-3 feet, examining the netting, and  
calling out angrily.  I guess I was not the only one keeping an eye  
on the ripening crop.

Ginda