Bird Netting for Effective Garden Bird Control

Your garden will be flourishing soon. All those fruits and vegetables that you’ve been nurturing for months will finally be bearing the benefits of your hard work. Unless, of course, you failed to implement an effective bird control strategy. In that event, your efforts may prove to be in vain. For surely as the sun rises, birds will feed off your ripening fruits and veggies this spring.

Adding insult to injury, pest birds will also cover your garden with droppings, which are not only unsightly but can carry any of 60 infectious diseases. Instead of a garden richly scented with ripening fruit, you’ll have a smelly garden covered with bird droppings.

What to do? Most people who nurture gardens are reluctant to use lethal means to get rid of birds. Many will use water hoses to “shoo” them away. Others will rattle pots, pans and noise makers. But these measures have proven largely ineffective in the long run. Birds simply return minutes after you go indoors. The only real solution is to implement professionally recommended bird control measures. Among the most effective for gardens is Garden Bird Netting.

Lightweight and easy to handle, Garden Bird Netting will deny birds access to your fruits and vegetables. Ideal for fruit trees as well as garden plants, this netting will protect your blueberry bushes, grape vines and other plants from being attacked.  It's sold in 14 x 100-foot and 14 x 200-foot rolls, and you can easily cut it down to the size to need to protect specific plants or areas.  It’s also available in three different "mesh" sizes--1/4" mesh, 1/2" mesh and 3/4" mesh to protect your garden from a wide variety of pest birds. The netting is easy to install, and bird netting clips are available that make for effortless installation. The best Garden Bird Netting is made from a durable, UV-protected polypropylene. This netting is strong, light and virtually invisible.

Garden Bird Netting is also highly recommended to prevent birds from nesting. Birds who are in the process of nesting can be very territorial. They will return to previously established nesting sites and protect them. Bird netting places your garden off limits so birds simply move on. You can install Garden Bird Netting temporarily if you have seasonal problem with birds, or you can install the netting permanently for year round protection.

Working effectively with Garden Bird Netting to achieve bird control are Visual Bird Deterrents. These include reflective foil and banner tape strung up on nearby trees, posts or fencing. By rattling in the breeze and reflecting sunlight, they create a distraction zone around your garden. Tear-drop shaped Bird Scare Diverters and Bird Scare Balloons accomplish the same result with their large, intimidating predator eyes bobbing in the wind. Visual distractors like these need simply to be moved around every so often to convince birds that they are an on-going threat.

Why Birds Are Attacking Your Garden and What to Do About It

If birds are continually attacking your garden and you’re at wits end, there are some very specific reasons why they’ve chosen your garden over others in the neighborhood.

First off, you may have ripening fruit that birds love to eat. Tomatoes, grapes, peaches, apples, pears, and the like are all invitations to any bird looking for an easy meal.

If you have lots of leafy trees in your backyard, birds can perch on them without being seen, and dive in for a meal the minute you leave your garden.

If you have a birdbath, that will attract birds. And once they see your ripening fruit, they’ll feast on it.

If you don’t have a dog or cat, birds will shy away from any neighbors who do and consider your garden a safe haven.

If you don’t have lots of children constantly playing in your garden, once again, birds will not free threatened and visit your garden.

If you do have children and they continually leave crumbs and food scraps on your patio table and underneath it, birds will dive in for the smorgasbord.

If you’ve tried poisons to get rid of the birds, they’ll still come, since you haven’t removed the other attractions of your garden, e.g., ripening fruit. You could try leaving the dead bird to rot in your garden. This may deter some birds, but the sight and smell of a dead bird ripening in the sun is a pretty stiff price to pay. Besides, your family and neighbors will start calling you “Cruella” if you go this route.

If you’ve tried trapping birds and they still invade your garden, again, you haven’t removed the initial attraction—the food source—so your garden still presents an inviting place to feast.

So what can you do to keep birds out of your garden? Some suggestions from the pros:

Garden Bird Netting

Lightweight, strong and practically invisible,  Garden Bird Netting can be draped over your small fruit trees and vegetable plants to deny birds access to your prized crops. The netting comes in 14 x 100-foot and 14 x 200-foot rolls and is easily trimmed to the desired size. It’s also sold in three different "mesh" sizes:1/4" mesh, 1/2" mesh and 3/4" mesh. Be sure to get the bird netting clips for hassle-free installation. The best netting is made from a durable, UV-protected polypropylene.

Sonic Bird Deterrents

Ideal for large gardens, Sonic Bird Deterrents broadcast bird distress and predator calls that create fear and panic in any approaching bird. The pre-recorded sounds resemble normal birdcalls, so they won’t irritate your pets, friends or neighbors. If your garden is being attacked by several varieties of birds, there’s one sonic system you can get that emits distress and predator calls for 22 different species of birds.

Visual Bird Deterrents

Used with other bird deterrents, Visual Bird Deterrents--which you can easily hang just about anywhere--include Flash Tape and Reflective Banners. These flagellate in the breeze and catch the sunlight to distract birds. You can also hang Scare Eye Diverters and Bird Scare Balloons from your trees and patio covers. These will twist and bounce in the wind and display their large predator eyes to intimidate birds.

Bird Control to Keep Pest Birds Away from Lawns & Gardens

by Alex A. Kecskes

It’s that time again. Time for spring and summer garden parties. Time to invite all your friends and relatives over for those great outdoor barbeques.  Only problem is, you’ve got pest birds circling around your backyard. Last year, they pooped all over your lawn and garden. You know they’ll be back this year, just waiting for you to place your smorgasbord of snacks and edible goodies on your patio table to feast on.

But you’re a bird savvy homeowner now. You know about bird control. And this year you’re going to fight back. Not with poisons, or pellet guns or the garden hose.  No, this is the year you win the battle of pest birds. You’ve consulted with the pros—bird control experts who know how to deter pest birds, effectively and humanely.  This year, you’re going to arm yourself with the tools professional use.

Scarecrow Bird Deterrent

Pest birds don’t have a prayer of sneaking by this bad boy. Scarecrows are motion activated and any birds entering their zone of protection get a sobering blast of water to remind them this is not the yard they want to call home.  The device features a realistic looking bird-like moving head and connects in a jiffy to almost any garden hose. It covers a 1,200 square foot area that extends 35 feet out by 45 feet wide. You can even adjust a Scarecrow’s sensitivity and range to cover specific areas of your backyard.

Visual Bird Deterrents

This is a pretty inexpensive, but effective bird control strategy. Here, you’re relying on the visual intimidation factor of Flash Tape and Reflective Banners, which reflect sunlight and snap in the breeze. Also in this category are Scare Eye Diverters, large teardrop shaped plastic panels covered with big  “mock” predator eyes. Equally effective are Bird Scare Balloons, which are covered with large predator eyes. Visual bird deterrents are easy to attach to patio covers, gazebos, tree branches, or any elevated area in your backyard. The balloons can be filled partially with water to skim the surface of your pool or spa. Keep in mind that visual bird deterrents should be moved around frequently or birds will get wise to your tactic.

Sonic Bird Deterrents

Many golf courses and industrial parks use these to keep pest birds away from their lawns and gardens. If you have a big back yard, Sonic Bird Deterrents will do the trick. The scientifically designed devices broadcast bird distress and predator calls that resemble normal bird sounds to humans. They won’t irritate pets or your friends and neighbors. One sound bird deterrent system is really handy, for it has the ability to emit distress and predator calls for 22 different species of birds. This unit covers up to an acre of land and can be programmed to turn on or off at night.

Getting Rid of Pest Birds in Gardens

by Alex A. Kecskes

A beautiful garden can be a joy to behold. It reflects the hours of work and care you put into it—the feeding and weeding and spraying for bugs. But unless you exercise some form of effective bird control, your well-tended garden can quickly be ruined by pest birds. Vegetable and fruit gardens are particularly vulnerable. While a few songbirds can add a certain ambiance to a garden, gathering flocks of birds—like crows, pigeons, finches—can destroy ripening fruit and vegetables. They can leave droppings everywhere, turning your garden into a smelly, disease-carrying mess.

The only way to protect your garden is with proven effective bird deterrents. And the best way to ensure your garden won’t be attacked by flocks of pest birds is to implement these bird deterrents before your fruits and vegetables ripen.

Here are three of today’s most popular and effective pest bird deterrents:

Plastic Bird Netting

Creating a physical barrier that denies birds access to specific areas of your garden, Plastic Bird Netting offers a humane, low profile bird deterrent. The netting usually comes in 14 x 100-foot and 14 x 200-foot rolls and three different mesh sizes. There’s a 1/4-inch mesh for smaller birds and a 1/2-inch mesh and a 3/4-inch mesh for larger birds. The best plastic bird netting is fabricated from durable, U.V.-protected polypropylene. This netting is strong, light, easy to handle and virtually invisible.

Install bird netting before your garden bears fruit or vegetables. Suspend the netting over your bushes or vines by at least 6 inches. Protect vegetables by wrapping individual plants in netting or suspend the netting around an entire garden area. To safeguard fruit trees, measure the circumference of the tree and cut the net to size (allow at least one foot extra around the circumference). Secure the netting with twine, zip ties, or hog rings.

Sonic Bird Deterrents

These devices broadcast bird distress and predator calls that make birds feel too uneasy to stay in your garden. The sounds resemble normal bird sounds, so they won’t irritate your pets, friends or neighbors. One highly versatile sonic system can emit distress and predator calls for 22 different species of birds. This unit covers up to an acre of land and can be programmed to turn on or off at night.

Visual Bird Deterrents

Ideally, you would want to use Visual Bird Deterrents in conjunction with the two deterrents mentioned above. These consist of Flash Tape and Reflective Banners, which reflect sunlight and snap in the breeze to make birds too nervous to feed. Also included in this category are Scare Eye Diverters and Bird Scare Balloons—both feature large predator eyes to intimidate pest birds. Visual bird deterrents attach easily to patio covers, gazebos, tree branches, or any elevated area in your garden. Just remember to move them around frequently to convince birds they are “live” threats.

3 Ways to Protect Your Home Garden from Pest Birds

by Alex A. Kecskes

As a homeowner, you know that pest birds can cause considerable damage to your garden. Fruits are especially vulnerable and can be quickly ruined by even a few birds.

Today, 95 percent of all American gardens grow tomatoes. One woman in North Texas suffered extensive damage to her tomato plants by mockingbirds. As soon as her tomatoes got red, ripe and ready to pick, the birds would take bites out of them. They would continue to nibble on her tomatoes all day long. A great-looking tomato, almost ready to pick in the morning, would be ruined with bite marks by late afternoon. Effective pest bird deterrents would have saved her tomatoes.

A sure sign that birds are attacking your fruit is the presence of holes throughout. Starlings and blackbirds can eat the fruits and vegetables you worked so hard to grow. Canada geese will munch on your grass and leave nearly a pound a day (per goose) of droppings. Birds can also damage your favorite trees. They’ll rip through bark searching for bugs. Few plants are safe from pest birds. They’ll use their beaks to rip, tear and tug your plants pieces.

The temptation is to resort to lethal bird control measures—like BB guns and poisons (avicides). But if you have pets or children, these methods are highly undesirable as well as being inhumane to birds. Fortunately, there are a number of bird deterrents on the market that are both effective and humane. They’re ideal for keeping pest birds out of your garden. 

Here are three proven bird control measures:

Lightweight Plastic Bird Netting

Plastic bird netting lets you exclude pest birds from garden, enclosed courtyard, patio or similar area. The netting comes in various mesh sizes to block out pigeons, sparrows, starlings, seagulls and other birds. The best high quality bird netting is available in various colors to blend in with your garden’s décor. One manufacturer offers a bird netting kit for fast, easy installation. The kits include perimeter cable, cable crimps, turnbuckles, intermediate attachments, hog rings, and accessories and tools.

Sonic Deterrents

These devices generate distress and predator calls that make birds too scared to hang around and feed. One commercially available system can generate such calls for 22 different species of birds. The calls, repeated every 10 minutes, resemble natural birdcalls to humans and won’t irritate pets. You can set a volume control to generate from 65-105 decibels, and you can program the unit to turn on or off at night. The best bird sonic units come with a built-in speaker that protects gardens up to an acre.

Bird Scare Deterrents

These inexpensive bird deterrents create an “Optical Distraction Zone” that makes pest birds too nervous to hang around your garden. They consist of reflective foils, shiny tape banners and balloons that are easy to install. Some balloons have giant predator eyes to give birds that “spied on” feeling. Balloons can also be filled partially with water to skim the surface of swimming pools, spas and Koi ponds.

Bird Control to Keep Your Pool and Spa Free of Pest Birds

by Alex A. Kecskes

If you own a home with a pool or spa, it can be a great source of pride and an ideal amenity in the summertime. As a responsible homeowner, you no doubt take good care of your pool or spa. You clean it on a regular basis and add the required chemicals to keep it sanitary and safe.

Regrettably, a single bird dropping can render your pool or spa unsafe, for bird droppings can carry any of 60 known diseases. Bird droppings can also contaminate the railings and ledges of a pool or spa. Worse yet, slippery bird droppings on pool diving boards and ladder steps can cause divers to slip and fall, resulting in possible injury.

Fortunately, there are a number of effective bird deterrents you can use to keep pest birds away from your pool or spa. Here are two bird control measures you might consider:

Visual Bird Deterrents

Sometimes called Bird Scare Deterrents, these inexpensive bird distracters include Flash Tape and Reflective Banners, which reflect sunlight and snap in the breeze. You can also get Scare Eye Diverters, large teardrop shaped plastic panels emblazoned with a “mock” predator eye. Finally, there are Bird Scare Balloons, which are similar to diverters in that they are covered with large predator eyes to spook birds. These visual deterrents attach easily to patio covers or any elevated area near your pool or spa. Balloons can also be filled partially with water to skim the surface of your pool or spa. The only thing to remember about these visual bird deterrents is that you should move them around from time to time to keep pest birds on the alert.

Sound Bird Control

Often referred to as Sound Bird Deterrents, these devices emit bird distress and predator calls that resemble normal bird sounds one hears every day. They won’t irritate pets or your friends and neighbors. Birds, on the other hand will regard them as a threat and leave. One sonic bird control system currently on the market can emit distress and predator calls for 22 different species of birds. It has a built-in speaker and will be protect your pool or spa from pigeons, crows, starlings, swallows, gulls, woodpeckers, sparrows, grackles, cormorants and many other birds. The unit features a volume control and can be programmed to turn on or off at night.

Scarecrow Bird Deterrent

This motion activated device confronts any bird entering its radius of protection with a harmless water blast, startling sprinkler sound, and realistic looking bird-like moving head.

Scarecrows connect easily to most garden hoses and offer over 1,200 square feet of protection that extends 35 feet out by 45 feet wide. These devices are inexpensive to operate, providing up to 1,000 "firings" on a single 9-volt battery. You can even adjust their sensitivity and range to meet the specific needs of your pool or spa.

Bird Control Strategies for Homeowners with Blue Heron Blues

by Alex A. Kecskes

If you own a home near the ocean, river, pond, or lake, you may have had a run in with blue herons. These tall, light blue-grey birds have long black legs, pointed beaks, black bellies, and a black stripe along their white heads.

While they may be beautiful to look at, they can present a nuisance to your property. If you have a Koi pond, for example, you and your Koi may not be too happy to see them.  For in addition to amphibians, invertebrates, reptiles, birds, and small mammals, blue herons enjoy feasting on fish.

If blue herons are giving you the blues, here are some humane and effective bird deterrents the pros use:

Bird Spiders

Like most birds, blue herons don’t like spindly things that can strike their legs as they attempt to land. Bird Spiders have long tentacles that whip erratically in the breeze to make birds too nervous to land on rooftops or fence lines. Bird spiders are easy to set up on just about any even surface. The devices come in 2-, 4-, 6- and 8-foot diameter arm lengths to create ever widening zones of deterrence. The best bird spiders come with a glue-on base, so you can easily attach them to most surfaces.

Plastic Bird Netting

An easy-to-handle and install bird deterrent, Plastic Bird Netting creates a physical barrier that will keep blue herons from specific areas of your home.  The netting is typically sold in two roll sizes: 14 x 100 feet and 14 x 200 feet. You’ll want a relatively large mesh to block out herons. You’ll also want to invest in high quality, durable, U.V.-protected polypropylene netting, which is strong, light and virtually invisible. Nowadays, bird netting even comes in various colors to blend in with your home.

Solar-Powered Bird Repellers

Equipped with motor-driven “arms” that spin around continuously at 30 RPM, Solar-Powered Bird Repellers make it really rough for herons to land anywhere near them. You can easily position these repellers wherever herons gather most often. The best bird repellers come with adjustable arms that protect up to a 5-foot diameter area. And while they are solar powered, the best devices will also run at night or on overcast days, since they can store the sun's energy for later use.

Scarecrow Bird Deterrents

A silent sentry that springs to life the second a blue heron enters its radius of protection, Scarecrows do a convincing job of keeping birds away from your home. The motion-activated devices greet herons with a harmless water blast, startling sprinkler sound, and realistic looking bird-like moving head.  Scarecrows connect easily to your average  garden hose and will protect a 1,200 square foot area that extends 35 feet out by 45 feet wide. The best scarecrows will deliver up to 1,000 "firings" on a single 9-volt battery, and you can adjust their sensitivity and range.