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BIRD (AND SQUIRREL) NETTING MADE EASY

8/3/2015

11 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
     The first year I used bird netting to cover a fruit tree so there’d be no entry points for birds or other critters seemed to work ok – although it was a very tiny tree.  I did harvest my dozen apricots precisely when I wanted them.  After years and years of trying to outbeat the birds and squirrels and other munchers, I considered this a success.

     However, extending this success to other larger trees and even that same apricot as it grew – despite my summer pruning purposely to keep all of their heights low enough for me to pull the netting across – ultimately resulted in gaps in coverage and tears in the netting when removing it, especially during those years that I had delayed too long to remove it and branches had woven themselves through the netting.  So I ended up with bits and pieces of irregularly shaped netting intertwined with broken branches and leaves.  What a mess!  In frustration, I stuffed the unwieldly mass of netting and leaves and branches into a container in the garage.

     The next year, I tied opaque grocery-store plastic bags (that’re now banned) around small groupings of fruit, figuring that the critters couldn’t visually determine when fruit color had changed and therefore the fruits were ready to munch, and hoping that fruit fragrance wouldn’t be a giveaway.  Besides, tying the bags on the branches was really easy, compared with the netting catching on every twig.  The new technique apparently worked, since I did harvest my fruit as it became ripe.  

     The following year wasn’t nearly as successful, as many bags were ripped and fruit gone.

     Three years ago, I determined to reuse those bits and pieces of netting from the garage.  This time, I chose pieces that fit individual groupings of fruits on single or closely located branches, tying them securely at their branch bases with “Ag-Tyes” from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply, http://www.groworganic.com/ag-tyes.html .  Once the netting was in place and tied, I created a “harvest hole” by ripping a small hole (just large enough for my fist holding one or two fruits) at an outer location furthest away from the branch and in open space – so, theoretically, the squirrel couldn’t support himself on a branch and reach around to enter through my purposely-made hole.  To harvest, I reach in with my left hand to feel which fruit is ripe, and then with my right hand clip the stem with my handclippers through the existing 1” netting hole space.  This works really well, especially with fruit that individually ripens over a long time period, like persimmons – last year’s harvest lasted for three months, and I got every single fruit when I wanted it! 

     This technique has worked well each year since.  The reapplication of netting onto individual fruit bunches does take some time, but I have to net only those portions of the tree with fruit.   I do try to remove the netting as soon as the last of each fruit group is harvested, but I don’t worry any more about ripping if I delay.  When I reapply it the next year, my previous “harvest holes” either aren’t apparent, or I place them in space or tie them up.

11 Comments
Nick
8/4/2015 11:49:32 am

Do you reuse the netting? I find that when I take off the netting at the end of the season, it always ends up in a tangled mess.

Reply
Yvonne Savio link
6/7/2017 12:57:56 pm

Yes, Nick, that's how I came to "invent" the reuse of the smaller pieces that had ripped as I removed them from the trees after harvest. The next year, I try to match the groups of fruit on their branches with the sizes of the netting remnants to create "balloons" of netting enclosing those fruits.

Reply
Reach Nettings Solutions Pvt. Ltd link
11/27/2015 02:38:38 am

these nets are available at pocket friendly prices but if you want to use it again then yes it can be used again but you have to keep it in such a way that it shouldn't get tangled and it should be kept separately.

Reply
shruti link
5/3/2018 10:05:05 pm

thank you for the information, your blog helped me to decide why bird netting is important and i purchased it from Hicare,.

Reply
Yvonne Savio link
5/4/2018 11:00:05 am

Hi, Shruti -- So glad my info helped! That's the whole point!

Reply
Winnie
4/16/2019 09:50:46 pm

How does this netting repel Squirrel?

Reply
Yvonne
4/19/2019 12:38:06 pm

Hi, Winnie -- The way I describe tying the netting, the squirrels can't find an opening to get inside to the fruit.

Reply
Eden
5/31/2020 04:10:10 pm

Hello, I am plagued by squirrels after my apricots, peaches, plums and pears. I have fruit bagged some of them and they are getting ripped.
Will plastic mesh bird netting work? Do you recommend netting the whole tree? Or the individual fruit area.
Desperate! and Fruits are close to fruition!
Thanks in advance! Eden

Reply
Yvonne Savio
5/31/2020 05:26:09 pm

Hi, Eden -- Ah, yes, those squirrel critters....Regarding plastic fruit tree mesh, as with all modes of critter-deterrent, sometimes the magic works and sometimes it doesn't, and sometimes it works for a while.....When my trees were small, I could net the entire trees, but now that many years have gone by, I've made a point of pruning my trees so I can easily harvest them while standing on the ground. And my netting has devolved into many smaller pieces, which I use to anchor around smaller batches of closely-located fruit starting at the branch with wire or string (since the squirrels are adept at "untying" them if the netting is less than securely shut. I also punch a hole that will barely fit my hand in the far side of the "balloon" around the fruit so I can reach inside to harvest, but it's too much in mid-air for the squirrel to enter there. This technique has worked for several years.

Reply
David Laidlaw
7/11/2022 11:34:56 am

I am having trouble envisioning your "balloons" of netting. What I see in the photo looks like net covering a tree, not just a "balloon." Since that netting is not really self-supporting, I don't understand why squirrels won't just push it up against the fruit and chew right threw both. Any additional instructions would be great!

Reply
Rosa
7/3/2022 10:23:16 am

what is the "name / brand "of the netting you use to protect from squirrels ? And where can I buy it ?
Does it come in individual bag size or I need to cut it myself ? Really appreciate your information

Reply



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