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protecting fruit bushes

REMF33REMF33 Posts: 731
in Problem solving
I'd quite like some redcurrants and raspberries this year and so far so good on the fruiting front. But the birds... obviously I don't want to hurt the birds. I can't really do a fruit cage, for the raspberries at least (I am afraid I didn't prune this year and they have gone a bit wild.) and the jostaberry is too big. I was wondering if enviromesh would work. Is it a waste of money to drape fine enviromesh over bushes that are against a fence? i.e. will it actually help, and will it be ok for the birds?
I am using sleeves on my dwarf cherries, plums and gooseberries. (I have never had a gooseberry and am determined to have some this year!) I  am going to put the blueberries in a cage.
I'd also be curious to know at what stage birds start eating fruit, in people's experience. I know from bitter experience that they will eat green cherries, and I have lost a few already before covering up i.e. is this an emergency situation?! My currant bushes are covered with green fruit, and  some of the blueberries are too.)

Posts

  • robairdmacraignilrobairdmacraignil Posts: 782
    Birds here usually start to eat fruit when it is ripe. I don't have the patience to net everything so just try to be fast enough to get some for myself before the birds do and a lot of berries are planted just for them (June berry, cotoneaster, pheasant berry...) so they are not so short in supply that they need to eat the ones I prefer to pick myself. Cherries and aronia disappear before they are sweet enough for me but gooseberry , red currant and raspberry are usually OK for me to get a good crop before the birds and they seem to leave the black currants alone for a good length of time.
    https://www.youtube.com/user/sustainableveg/videos
  • REMF33REMF33 Posts: 731
    Thanks. The problem is partly that I don't yet get enough fruit to share, otherwise I might not bother either. The soft fruit take up the equivalent of about 50 ft of border so they really need to start earning their keep.
    I do have various shrubs with berries, but not ones that fruit at the same time as these.
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