You ’ve waited all time of year to defile your fingers purple with luscious homegrown blueberry juice .
A flock of athirst birds descends , and before you’re able to get your hand on justoneof those hard earned , mouth lacrimation berry , your bush are stripped sportsmanlike .
You ca n’t blame them for do it the fruit , but you do n’t have to apportion your blueberries .
European starling.
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Birds can become a serious annual problem once they know where accessible yield is , and can have important return losses .
If you think big fields of blueberry bush would pull in more birds than your small garden might , I detest to break it to you , but small isolated plantings can actually have high production loss .
European starling.
Luckily , you have options . The methods uncommitted to protect your berries from peckish poultry can be separated into four categories : physical , visual and auditory , repellant , and marauder .
Here ’s everything we ’ll embrace :
How to Protect Your Blueberries
Types of Birds to find out For
Physical Barriers
Visual and Auditory Options
Repellents
Predators
First , what kind of hoot should you reckon out for exactly ?
Bigger birds will bolt the whole yield . Smaller ones lean to smack into the fruit , leaving damaged berries to spoil . Both , in their happy craze , will criticize good and unripe fruit off the shrub .
The most common blueberry - eating birds are starlings and robin .
The European or common starling ( Sturnus vulgaris ) is both a fascinating specie and an agrarian pest .
starling get in in large flocks , and will eat the fruit whole and puncture berries with their claw .
American redbreast ( Turdus migratorius ) , those lovely spring singers , will amount one by one or in pocket-sized mathematical group to snack on blueberries in between worm courses .
House finch and red - wing merl are also occasionalblueberry pest .
source - eating types like finches may not target blueberry specifically , but they are attracted to areas where grass and grasses are allowed to go to seminal fluid .
If these areas are near a blueberry bush eyepatch , the temptation to try some for dessert is irresistible .
Netting is one of the estimable foolproof options , and it is commonly used by small and medium sized u - plectron and other berry - grow farm operations .
It will create a physical barrier between your ripening berries and the birds .
habituate three - one-fourth - column inch mesh , which is small enough that all types will be excluded . Keep the gauze eight to 12 inches off the ground so snakes do n’t get tangled in the net . Use stakes or rod to shore the netting over the plant .
Birds will land on and peck through the engagement if you only drape it over the bushes , and if the veiling is too close to the plants , they ’ll learn to push against it to get at those naughty treats .
Heavy Duty Protective Netting
Netting isavailable at Home Depotin a miscellanea of size .
you’re able to alsofind net option on Amazon , such as this 14 - by-100 - foot section of 3/4 - inch meshing .
optic protection options useable to you let in glossy tape , terror eye balloons , and exceptional hawk - shaped kite . Auditory maneuver , such as garish noises , distress call option , and predator calls , are also available .
The estimation here is to scare the birds enough to keep them off from your blueberries .
flatus pieces of tape with a burnished app around plant halt so they can quiver in the breeze .
Irri - Tape Repellent Ribbon
Rolls of Irri - Tape Repellent Ribbon areavailable from Home Depot .
Set out a few owl statue and move them every daytime , or every other day .
chick kit from Jackite , Inc. are hawk - shaped kite that you may buy especially to protect yield .
wandering Falcon Jackite
you’re able to find a peregrine falcon Jackiteavailable on Amazon .
Large inflatable balloon with musing eyes and markings , also live as brat eye balloons , can intimidate birds enough to keep them away .
Scare Eyes Inflatable balloon
you’re able to plunk up a few brightly colored Scare Eyesfrom Home Depotor from theBird B Gone Store via Amazon .
Species - specific distress calls , exceptional predatory flack calls , and Bird Bangers are also commercially available .
The heavy issue with audile options is they can become very annoying – to you , as well as your neighbour . Check local regulations before grease one’s palms and using trashy deterrents .
Be cognisant that devices claim to deter avian visitant via ultrasonic methods are not efficient .
The above - described visual and auditory alternative ferment best when used together . place up a combination , such as a mortarboard kite with a predatory cry , as the fruit begin to mature .
It ’s also significant to realize that our feather friends are chic . The “ scarecrows ” and sounds you expend need to equal .
And both must be locomote regularly so they do n’t get used to them and begin to roost happily on your owl statuette , for example .
They are level-headed enough , in fact , to learn to use the kite and sounds as signals that the yield is ready . So you take to outsmart them , and always endeavor to be one step ahead of them .
Consider spraying your plants with some type of repellent to lead them to believe the yield is n’t yummy after all ( even though it still is ) .
Methyl anthranilate , a compound that generate Concord grape vine their characteristic olfactory property and flavor , is register for use and approve by the FDA for repulse avian visitor .
This chemical substance is completely safe for both humanity and creature , but the shuttlecock do n’t like it .
Methyl anthranilate take place to be the fundamental ingredient that makes grape Kool - Aid flavor and taste like grape vine , so dwelling gardeners can easily mingle their own intermixture .
Grape Kool - Aid
mail boat of the unsweetened varietyare available from Wal - Mart .
To make grape Kool - Aid into a repellant spray , integrate four packets with one Imperial gallon of water and spray works when the yield begin to color . As it only remains in effect for a few days , reapply on a regular basis and after rain .
Sucrose is another repellent that is middling efficacious . Manyvarieties of fruit - feed birds – such as starling , robins , and thrush – are not able-bodied to digest sucrose .
It will give them looseness of the bowels , and after take enough fruit covered in a layer of it , they may develop an distaste to your beautiful blueberries .
To make your own spray solution , commingle five pound of granulated pelf with two dry quart of water in a tumid pot on the kitchen stove , and heat it to thaw the scratch completely .
This should yield about a gallon of spray solution . Apply as the berries ripen and again after pelting .
Both disgusting options are completely dependable for humans , insect visitors , and the birds themselves .
The job with these options is that high concentrations are needed for them to be effective , and they need to consume a lot of either of these ( and a sight of your berries , as well ) before they will be put off .
One pick that will have avian blueberry pests dive for cover and staying aside isrealnatural predators such as falcon . Their comportment alone is enough to keep others out .
you could attract bird of prey like the American kestrelto your area by building and place special nesting box in your chiliad .
call for your neighbors if you could add some to their properties as well ( dulcorate the deal with a hope of shared , deliver blueberries of course ) .
Kestrel nesting boxes should be placed 10 to 30 foot high on a freestanding Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree or pole .
box should have a floor size of eight by eight inches , a depth of 16 to 18 inches , a height of 18 inch , and a three - inch entry hole . Line the bottom with wood chips .
starling , being highly successful and opportunistic , can decide to claim these boxes as their own , so monitor for Mr. and Mrs. Starling and troupe be active in .
If you notice starling get down to ramp up a nest inwardly , remove the nest and continue to supervise them . It might take a few nest removal for them to get the content and move somewhere else .
Beat it, Birds!
That ’s right on – produce your own berry , you beady eyeball bandits .
In all distressfulness , I dolove birds and how they add spirit to a garden . If you have extra berries , many avian visitors will take account the sweet snack . But you do n’t have to let them have them all .
try out out one , two , or three of these methods , figure out which works well in your berry plot , and harvest the rewards .
Once you ’ve had your filling , go out front and address the pollyannaish wildlife if you wish . Just think to save some berry for the neighbor that let you put up Falco sparverius nesting boxes everywhere , too .
And for more information aboutgrowing blueberriesin your garden , check out these guides next :
photograph by Sylvia Dekker © Ask the Experts , LLC . ALL right RESERVED.See our TOSfor more details . Originally published April 10th , 2021 . Last updated May 1st , 2025 . Product picture via Home Depot and Walmart . Uncredited pic : Shutterstock .
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Sylvia Dekker
