Bird Net

I can’t believe harvest is almost upon us again. I have been putting up bird netting for what seems like an eternity. The vine rows are about 650 ft long and there are 56 of them. While I am have had occasional help from kind people, I have put up the lion’s share of the stuff myself.

This is the first year that we’ve installed bird netting. Last year, we used a shotgun for bird control. (see blog entries from last year) The birds still ate about 2 tons of fruit last year despite my best efforts at blasting them into birdie heaven.

Bird netting comes in various forms. We tried 2 different kinds. One is an extruded, black, fairly stiff netting that comes on rolls that are about 14 feet long. The rolls are sliced into 40 inch segments with a chainsaw. This produces 3 jelly rolls of netting. The netting unfurls as I kick the roll up and down the vineyard rows. It tends to lay neatly flat on the ground . I lay netting on both sides of each trellis. Then I clip the netting onto the trellis via slots notched into the posts. The netting sandwiches the fruiting zone thus deterring the birds from snacking on my harvest. While no picnic, this netting is fairly straightforward to install.


The other kind of netting is a woven, green, stretchy nightmare that comes stuffed hopelessly tangled in large sacks. I have spent days and days unraveling the stuff. Then it doesn’t lay flat. It must be pulled apart like pork and pinned to the trellis every 24 inches or so top and bottom. I have come to really hate this netting. But I am also cash poor enough that I can’t afford to replace it this year. Besides, I hate the idea of something going to waste. I just hope my husband can find a way to salvage and store the green jumbled morass for use next year. HE gets to install it next year.