(News article for July 19, 2025)

Most of us like having wildlife in our yards to some extent. In the past, I’ve written about choosing plants to support birds. However, many of us don’t like it when they eat our figs, blueberries, or grapes. With fig season upon us, I recently had a call about how to keep birds from getting fruit.

Scare tactics like pie pans, strips of aluminum foil, and fake snakes or owls may deter birds for a limited amount of time, but birds get used to them. Commercial growers sometimes use inflatable air dancers, balloons with large eyes, Mylar tape, sound-making cannons, laser-based devices, and repellents containing methyl anthranilate, with varying levels of success.

On a farm or in a home garden, bird netting is the most reliable way to protect fruits like figs, blueberries, and grapes. It’s ideal to have a frame over which to drape it, but the netting can be allowed to rest directly on the plants. In the latter case, birds will likely be able to reach some of the fruit on the outside of the canopy. When growing grapes, the trellis can support the netting. In any case, you’ll need to stake or otherwise secure the netting to the ground on all sides to keep birds from getting under it.

Let me know if you have questions.

Contact Mary Helen Ferguson.

Bird netting over containerized blueberries. The netting would be brought down on the sides down during harvest season. (Photo by M.H. Ferguson)

Bird netting over grapes. Netting can be supported by structures or draped directly over plants. In either case, it needs to be secured at the base to keep birds from getting under it. (Photo by M.H. Ferguson)