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Birds

45 ACP

Active Member
Messages
170
Location
Texas
Planting Zone
8B
Anybody have a proven trick to keep the birds off of your tomato's? They haven't hit me yet this spring but were brutal on my 'maters last year. Very frustrating to grow your plants nice and healthy, only to have birds come peck holes all over my big juicy tomato's.

Im even considering building a wood frame around my 4 plants and hang netting over it, unless ya'll have some other deterrent.
 

Mike

Might know the answer
Messages
977
Location
Kentucky
Planting Zone
6b
My new raised garden, I used PVC pipes that are bent to make a hoop over the garden and then have laid bird netting over top of it keeping birds and dogs out of the garden.
 

w_r_ranch

Master Gardener
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Plus Member
Messages
6,450
Location
South Central Texas
Planting Zone
8b
I just give them their own food & water source & they don't bother the garden much... Not 100% foolproof, but it does help a lot.
 
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majorcatfish

Guest
kind of funny you brought this subject up, as for tomatoes never had that problem. do agree with everyone about using netting, the cow birds loved to pull up my corn and beet sprouts last year, got home today and they pulled up a good+ dozen beets, had a quick hoop out of some 12ga wire and placed the netting over it and put some stakes in with flagging tape to deter them from flying into it.
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you are on the right track building a frame around your tomatoes.....
 
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ErnieCopp

Guest
I have not had that problem with birds, but i do have a bird feeder right beside my Tomato patch, so like Sam said, that may keep them from eating the tomatoes.

I do put bird netting over my fig trees and put cheese cloth over the bunches of grapes that i want to keep for raisins, as both birds and bees do a lot of damage to the grapes. I have so many clusters of Loquats i just let the birds have the top ones and i pick what i want from the lower part of the clusters.

Ernie
 

45 ACP

Active Member
Messages
170
Location
Texas
Planting Zone
8B
Im trying to avoid messing with the netting. Seems like a pain. I'll try a bird bath and bird feeder first to see if that works. Also heard putting a few rubber snakes in your garden may deter them. Also maybe a plastic owl. If none of that works I'll be forced to rig up some netting. I only have (2) big tomato plants and (2) grape tomato plants, so I cant afford to give up much to the birds.
 
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Mr_Yan

Guest
I did netting once for squirrels on tomatoes but never had tomato / bird problems. I had bird problems with berries though. Seems that any one solution only lasts a week or so (sometimes less) before they get used to it. Some things I've done

  • wires / string strung over the plants - many birds won't fly in as they see the wire as flight danger
  • hang CD's such that they will spin and sway in the wind
  • small pin wheels like kids run around with (same idea as the CD's)
  • rubber snakes in the tomato plant - more effective for rodents

The cherry farm I worked on in high school had a "brid cannon" that would shoot something like a 12 ga blank at set time intervals.

This year as my grapes start to turn purple I will put drawstring bags over each bunch to deter the birds. This vine has fruited for three years now and I have yet to get a grape from it.
 
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ErnieCopp

Guest
Do you buy or make the drawstring bags? We use squares of cheesecloth with clothespins, but always looking for an easier quicker way.
I use bird net on my Figs, but do not attempt to put it on by myself. I make an inverted U frame from PVC and tie the net to the frame. Then with a person on each side of the U, we go upwind and it sails over the tree, then we bunch it up beneath the branches. I cut slits in it for reaching in, and the birds do not find the slits. Loquats come in clusters so i let the birds eat the top layer and pick mine from the below so do not need to protect those.
Never had much tomato damage. Bees ruin a lot of my grapes my sucking the juice out of them.

Ernie
 
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Mr_Yan

Guest
I am planning on making my draw string bags. Not sure what I will use. Window screen is enticing and I know my sewing machine will do it but I don't think I will use it. Muslin is cheap and easy to work and it may be lite enough to dry fast without holding water against the fruit. The main drawback with muslin is it is opaque and I won't easily see if something is damaging the fruit.

Ernie - if you don't want to sit down at a sewing machine for a rainy afternoon you may be able to get cheesecloth / muslin bags cheaply from a home brew supply store. I think my local store has them from less than fifty cents each.

These muslin draw string bags are also an option for self pollinating plants (peppers and tomatoes) if you want to seed save but don't have the isolation space. Placing the bag over the flower before the flower opens will ensure that the fruit is true to the parent and not a hybrid with the neighbor.
 
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ErnieCopp

Guest
I managed to be busy elsewhere last year when Linda covered some of the grapes, but lots more grapes this year and i want to make more raisins. She just cut rectangles of the cheesecloth last year, but i am going to cut rectangles, and then cut a slit in one end. Slike the split end around the stem or vine, and then wrap the cloth and pin it. I do not remember what a big roll of cheesecloth cost, but it was pretty cheap..

I will have to dry most of the raisins in my fruit dryer but i am going to try an idea i saw last year. Just go up from the grape clusters and cut the vine, leave it all in place until the fruit dries. Most of the vines need to be pruned any way and it sounds like it might work, but it might produce a lot of moldy raisins too. Most of those real easy ways to do things seldom work out for me.

Ernie
 
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