How to protect strawberries from birds?

Garden crops and their fruits are of interest not only for the owner of the site, but also for the birds. In order to minimize the damage that the latter can inflict, today there are a lot of effective methods and options to preserve the harvest without radical measures concerning the destruction of uninvited guests.

Strawberries are located by gardeners on a special account; therefore, they are cultivated everywhere, not only in open ground, but also in greenhouse conditions in regions where it cannot be grown in light of the climate. In the latter case, there is much less risk of losing the crop, because the berries are reliably protected due to placement inside the greenhouse. As for the garden, there are quite a few wishing to eat strawberries. Sparrows, starlings, crows and many other species of birds quite often visit gardens and orchards, using not only ripe Victoria, but also unripe fruits.

As a result, summer residents who are irregularly present on their plots, and land owners permanently residing nearby, have to take measures to preserve the harvest. And since this issue has been relevant for more than a decade, there is a large arsenal of all sorts of effective methods in the arsenal of berry crop owners that help protect strawberries from birds and protect their crops.

Summer residents and gardeners, along with folk remedies, use modern versions, each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages. The most effective methods are being modernized, less effective methods are forgotten.

Most often resort to shelter of ridges with a grid or other similar raw materials. Such materials are sold in free access on the markets and in supermarkets, in addition, the choice of products allows you to choose a product for every taste. As practice shows, if you close the berry bushes with a cellular net made of plastic or metal, the honeycomb will not become an obstacle to the penetration of sunlight, moisture and allow insects to pollinate the culture, but will become a barrier for birds.

Also, in order to save the beds, you can use breathable opaque material - Agril or Spanboard, which will hide the berries from the birds and create the effect of a greenhouse inside. But in this embodiment, natural pollination for plants will become impossible, and without sunlight, strawberries will noticeably lag behind in ripening.

Berry plantations are closed around the entire perimeter, pegs are driven in half a meter to fix the material into the ground. As an additional reinforcement, the raw material is pressed to the ground with heavy objects. The tension should be maximized to avoid sagging in the center. The recommended height of the structure should be above the bushes on average by 20 centimeters.

However, the work may be associated with some difficulties when choosing a mesh, since the material must have a maximum density, but at the same time a fine-meshed structure. It is worth refusing to use the fishing net, since in this matter it will be ineffective.

It is also worth noting that such fencing will bring some inconvenience associated with agricultural technology related to culture, because for any work there may be a question about removing the grid, which significantly reduces its service life.

To brighten up the negative side of the method, you can build a special frame structure using arcs of metal or other material.This option does not require an additional foundation device, the arcs are placed at a selected distance from each other on the basis of the landing area, and the grid is fixed on top of them. In order to resolve the issue of comfortable maintenance work, you can think about the height of the structure, which would allow the summer resident to freely penetrate inside. Such a structure is seasonal, so after the end of fruiting, it is dismantled.

In addition to the use of mesh and covering material, a good defense will be planting near the ridges of crops that will distract the attention of birds. Rowan, cherry or other plants with bright fruits can act as bait. However, in this case there is no guarantee that when planting a bush or tree, you can guess the taste preferences of birds.

A good humane option for protecting strawberries will be the arrangement of a small water source near, as the birds will pay more attention to him, and the sound of flowing water will attract them. However, the disadvantage of this method is that after resting at a water source, birds can safely go in search of food, and yet peck the beds with garden strawberries.

A more modern way to save the crop in the country, is the use of dressing for birds. This method consists in the treatment of berry plantations with special means that negatively affect the taste of fruits for birds, but they do not affect humans or animals.

As a peculiar method of protecting strawberries, there are various methods of scaring birds.

This can be done with the sound of birds of prey recorded on any medium. This option is a win-win for the owners of large plantations with berries. Now there is no need for a long search for a suitable audio recording in pet stores, since audio files are freely available on the Internet.

A significant disadvantage of using loud sounds is the fact that this way you can cause an unpleasant reaction from your neighbors, in the light of which not everyone can use it. The way out is to use specialized electronic devices that produce low-frequency sounds that do not cause discomfort in humans, but act on birds.

If birds eat berries in the garden, you can use tape from old cassettes to scare them away. Stretched film in the form of cobwebs on the site, its brilliance from the sun will help ward off those who want to feast on the fruits. In addition to the visual effect, the film will make sounds in the wind, which will also discourage the birds from visiting the site.

A similar result can be achieved if you place in the garden any other shiny and rustling objects, for example, cuts of foil or bags made of cellophane. It will be enough to hang them in the trees near the berry crops.

A proven way to combat the invasion of birds is to install a stuffed animal. You can do it yourself. For this it is necessary to connect two boards with a cross, which will act as a trunk. Just make your head out of a bag or bag filled with lightweight materials, such as newspapers. By connecting all the parts, you can wear unnecessary things on the scarecrow and draw a face or put on a mask.

The disadvantage of such a “guard” will be quite a quick getting used to it by the birds, as a result, the scarecrow will become the location of the birds in the garden. To avoid this, the scarecrow can also be supplemented with bright accessories in the form of the same disks or tapes, which will move from the wind and make sounds that are guaranteed to scare the birds. Some more advanced gardeners and gardeners specifically purchase stuffed large birds of prey for installation in the garden, which can make awesome sounds. Similar copies can be purchased at garden stores.

Rattles or bells will also serve as a scare. Such ratchets can be made independently. For this, any unnecessary things will fit, but it is better that they be made of metal. Homemade rattles can be made from cans. Such things will produce quite a lot of noise, which will help expel the birds, but the disadvantage of this method is the possibility of their functioning only in windy weather.

Studying the birds, scientists noticed that they are wary of white color, so gardeners often stretch light textiles near the strawberry beds. Sometimes white wrap or fabric cuts tie up branches of trees growing in the garden. In the role of colored variants of scaring birds use flags, painted in bright blue or red colors, which, as a rule, are placed between the rows.

Another homemade item that allows you to save the harvest, will be the manufacture of windmills from plastic containers. If you add to these mills elements that produce sounds in the process of movement, the moving multicolored blades and noise are guaranteed to bring the expected result. In addition, such items can be a decorative element that adorns the garden. The minus of the products will be the quick addiction of birds to such things in the garden.

The list of objects and inventions that gardeners use to scare birds away from their crops is quite large, so you can select the most effective ones.

• It is established that the birds do not tolerate the smell of onions. If you place sliced ​​heads near the garden strawberry beds or fix them on tree branches, you can save the berries. In addition, on sale there are special tools in the form of a gel, which are inherent in the aromas of plants that have a deterrent effect.
• The presence of a cat will be able to make some adjustments in the behavior of birds that eat strawberries in the garden plots. The animal is unlikely to be able to catch all the birds that peck the beds, but its presence will be to the advantage.
• Today, on sale you can find various devices with infrared sensors, which will not let a bird approach even a small garden.

Among the methods listed above for the control of winged pests, we can mention a method that stands out for its high efficiency, which consists in the independent construction of a special net box. The design does not require any serious carpentry skills from the gardener, and from the materials you will need the very minimum.

The scheme of work consists of the following sequential actions.

• From boards the box with jumpers is knocked down every 50-60 centimeters. It is important to make it of such a size that the design is not too high, as this will adversely affect the ventilation of the ridges. However, the size depends largely on the area of ​​plantings and varieties of strawberries.
• To the bottom of the box nailed legs, made from processed or burnt timber. Wood processing is mandatory, as this will avoid the rotting of raw materials.
• The box sinks into the ground, after which the material must be treated from the effects of negative environmental factors, such as precipitation, negative temperatures and wind.
• Next, you need to assemble the frame for the covers. They are fixed with loops, so that they open outwards. For each, for convenience, it is worth attaching a pen.
• After this work is carried out with a covering material - a grid. It is necessary to cut off parts of an appropriate size from a common roll and fix them to the frames with small nails and a stapler.

Everyone knows that the birds on the site help fight pests, so their destruction and shooting can ultimately harm the cultivation of horticultural crops. Therefore, many gardeners are extremely negative about radical measures to combat them.

As for the above-mentioned ways to fight for the preservation of the harvest, as practice shows, their effectiveness will be reduced if the birds nest on the site and they have offspring. In this case, it is worthwhile to consider in advance options for preventing the nesting of birds in the trees, attics or other more secluded places. In general, the options of protection and scaring bring their positive results, the main thing is to choose the most appropriate option in each case.

How to protect strawberries from the invasion of birds, see the next video.