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  • From: list@ginda.us
  • To: ec_pasour@ncsu.edu, North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Bird netting
  • Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 06:41:56 -0400


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




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