I had six strawberries at the verge of ripening the other day. When I went to pick them, they were gone. :twisted: So I sorted through the junk pile to see what I could find to remedy this situation. I found some PVC pipe, landscape timbers and cement blocks. I bought some of the bird netting (which is a real pain in the rear to use) and some whirly pinwheels. Take that birds!!! Bird Proofing the Strawberries... I hope! ( photo / image / picture from cherylad's Garden )
I hope you get at least a few berries! I saw something in Pinterest I want to try ... painting stones red and putting them beside my berry plants early on in the season. This is supposed to stop them from eating my berries later on. I hope it works!
I have heard that hanging red Christmas tree ball ornaments near tomatoes will keep birds from pecking at ripening tomatoes. Perhaps smaller ones would work for strawberries? It would be easier than painting rocks, Netty. Cheryl, I know what you mean about bird netting. We put it on our apple and pear trees. It is the next worst thing to chicken wire to work with, but at least it doesn't make you bleed like the wire does (swear, yes; bleed, no).
Jane, I had never used the netting before and had the bright idea to cover the blackberries with it. WRONG! It got so tangled up anything with a point. Even my rough finger nails. I finally ended up cutting it off the blackberries and tossing it in the trash. At least with the strawberries it was pretty easy since most everything was smooth. But now I have to figure out something for the blackberries. I guess I'll just have to put alot of shiny noisy things to scare them away. Do those fake owls with heads/eyes that move work?
Well miss, netting is the thing. I have to use netting to protect my strawbs every year. It is the only thing that consistently works for me. I think that your security rigging looks effective and not unsightly at all. The pinwheels really give it that extra bit of discouragement fun.
Only for a while,,the birds will figure out that they don`t really fly. But if you use them only a short time it might work. Then remove them after season is done.
Donna... have you been peeking into my yard? I strung up some CDs on the peach trees over the weekend. But they didn't make much noise, so I added a mini pie pan. Now it's nice and shiny and noisy! ( photo / image / picture from cherylad's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from cherylad's Garden ) Should I put the CD-pans by the blackberries now, or wait until they start to ripen?
