Bird Wars

[RandyK]

Hi all. I did not see a bird deterrent post in the informational sticky. There may be many posts about this, but what are the best methods you have found to defeat the ravenous bird hordes that are just waiting to ravage my quickly ripening figs?

First year newbie here...haven’t been through the bird wars yet. I have some netting I’m going to try to use, but my one in ground tree is pretty big and may be hard to cover.

Aside from my in ground tree, all my other trees are first leaf and I’ve been concentrating on growth. So I won’t get too many figs, but there will be a few.

I’m guessing a multi-tiered defense might be best?

Thanks, in advance, for the help and advice!

[Figbert]

1. Behold Ourfigs unofficial mascot and best in show bird deterrent!

https://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-home/764730-do-you-think-the-birds-will-laugh-at-my-owl

2. If you only have a few figs: organza gift bags. The birds around me aren't very persistent, so one bag was plenty.But you can add a second bag over the first, so anything trying to bite through just keeps getting mouthfuls of plastic. Also good against fruit flies, fig beetles, and less determined four legged critters.

[arachyd]

Nets. If the tree is too big to frame the net I just toss the net over it and try to arrange leaves between the outermost figs and the net or bend small branches inward. Home Depot sells various sizes at reasonable prices.

[RandyK]

Thanks! Love the owl post!

I think I’ll try both the netting and the organza bags. I’ll see how big a bird net I can get for the in ground and follow your advice if it doesn’t quite fit under. For the potted trees that have figs this year, I think I can get smaller netting and they will fit completely under. And then the organza bags can be the next line of defense if some get through.