Does anyone have better suggestions for blueberry netting?
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
netting over blueberry bush
I was pleased to see that one of my blueberry bushes, the one farthest down hill, has berries. It escaped the gread mummy berry disease. Yeah! I covered it with a plastic netting called "cicada netting" that was available locally in Home Depot. It has small holes and I'm hoping will not tangle birds like the netting with larges holes.
Does anyone have better suggestions for blueberry netting?
Does anyone have better suggestions for blueberry netting?
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8 comments:
I made tubes (or chimneys) out of hardware cloth that go over each bush, the lid is made out of more HC or chicken wire. Purposefully make them different diameters and you'll be able to stack them for storage. (ksb)
Hello,
This is to keep off birds of the berry disease?
not sure if it is better, but i work at a fabric shop and we sell a lot of tulle by the yard for berry netting. its fine meshed, light and visible to birds (depending on the color used) so it might actually deter them by hiding the berry color. we also sell mosquito netting (the same stuff used in malaria prone areas to drape sleeping platforms ) people use that too. I need to decide for myself what to try. i've lost too many grapes and elderberries to birds and will have strawberries and cherries to protect soon. I'm going to use hoops and reemay for the strawberries though.
I made "chimneys" out of hardware cloth - v. quick, fastened with zip ties. Lids were chicken wire. Make them different diameters and they'll stack for storage.
Out here in the Pacific NW we grow a lot of blueberries, both commercially and in our gardens. We have 20 bushes in my garden that are just loaded with berries and keeping the birds out of them is a priority right now! I really dislike that black netting, the holes are too big, the bush will grow through it and I have had to rescue a bird from it.
I found that old fashioned nylon netting works really well, it's 60" wide and fairly inexpensive-comes in lots of colors too. On my larger bushes it doesn't come to the ground, but I find that the Robins are discouraged by not being able to land on them. I use wooden clothes pins for weights (and clipped to branches) to keep the netting on. I had never heard of Cicada netting, but then, we don't have Cicadas.
Also, the plants are so shallow rooted they must be well mulched. Big growers here use 6", or more, of Douglas fir sawdust. Today I hauled pine needles from under our big trees and I'm trying that for mulch this year.
I enjoy your blog, gardens and dogs, always a winner.
Lea
This is what I have to do. A thief is running amok in my blueberry bush area.
How about some sort of miniature greenhouse? Just some thin 2x4 strips and a bit of clear plastic glass may do it..
was wonderful reading about it,i have a small garden and i have to practice it. Thanks.
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