Name: The Best Bird Netting Yet? | Videos | Gan Jing World
Uploaded: 2022-12-01T16:36:24.000Z
Duration: 3 min 33 s
Description: Buy your DFJ T-Shirt, Cap, or Coffee Mug at https.//www.dirtfarmerjay.com/shop We want to protect our grapes without killing birds. What to do? If we don’t ne... | Videos | Gan Jing World

DirtFarmerJay

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We want to protect our grapes without killing birds. What to do?

If we don’t net our or cover our grapevines, we’ll get nothing for our labors and investment, but the birds will certainly enjoy the bounty!

As our yardscape has matured and habitat has formed, we have enjoyed a growing community of various types of birds. While we enjoy the wildlife’s strong validation of what we’ve planted, they have a voracious appetite for fruit. The birds have plenty of other choices on our grounds and the neighboring areas, so we don’t mind saying “off limits!” to our harvest to our feathered friends. 

We’ve used standard bird netting before. Available in various sizes, rolled or folded, it’s reasonably priced, and if handled and stored well, lasts for 3 to 4 seasons. Once in place, it’s fairly easy to secure with cable ties that can be clipped later when the netting is removed.

However, it comes with several BIG downsides. 

For humans, it’s difficult to place because of the large spaces in the netting. So, it constantly “catches” on branches and vine ends as it’s being applied. This leads to a lot of frustration and ripped areas in the netting.

For birds, the stakes are higher. Standard bird netting can be lethal. Over the last several years, we’ve cut out a dozen of dead or maimed birds that have been caught in the net and either died of hunger and or thirst or were trapped when we’ve found them. It’s not pretty, and it got us thinking, “is there a better way?” Fortunately, there is!

This past summer our home was featured on our county’s local Garden Tour. One of our visitors gave us the idea to use tulle (the fabric used to make wedding veils and prom dresses) instead of bird netting. They had tried to buy bird netting, but all the stores were out of stock. They were committed to not just letting the birds have the crop, so they had to think of something different. They went to their local fabric store and bought yards of tulle. Tulle (pronounced like “tool”) is available in 108”/3 yard/2.74 meter widths and in various lengths. It’s also available in a nice variety of colors. We ordered green but it turned out to be neon green and it’s pretty bright - but we still like it! 

Tulle is easier to install because it’s more like fabric but breathes and lets the sunshine through like netting. Care must still be taken to not tear the fabric should a snag occur. When spreading it out to place on the tree or vine, it doesn’t pick up as many twigs and small branches from the ground either. Once it’s in place,  we chose to use clothespins to clamp the bottom and ends shut. The ease of removing a clothespin to release a bird, should one get inside, is much quicker than removing and re-installing a cable tie.

To secure the tulle, we used clothespins. For grapes supported on our two-tier grape arbors, we drape the tulle over the top and adjust it to get the bottom edge to be the same distance down the sides of the vines. We then fasten the two sides together along the bottom edge, besides the trunk, and at the end of each arbor row.  Wow! What an improvement over “standard” bird netting!

We got our tulle from: 
https://www.fabricwholesaledirect.com
The tulle was $36 and shipping was $7. We only used 35% of the bolt to cover the grapes this year.

The bolt we got was 50 yards/46 meters long and 3 yards/2.75 meters wide. Whether you buy online or locally, it’s likely you’ll have a better selection if you buy “off-season” - that is, in the cooler months.

Thanks for watching! Now, you can protect both your harvest and our bird friends, too! Sure, you can buy fruit and grapes, but with help like this, you can JUST DO IT YOURSELF!

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