Protect Your Garden with Bird Barrier

Birds are beautiful creatures and they surely add appeal into a garden. But their welcome may not extend if they start devouring your crops. For instance, crows like corns and jay love eating berries. Though it may seem a bit harsh to keep the birds away from your garden, your priority should be protecting your plants, fruits, flower trees and vegetable garden. Providing a barrier between your crops and birds is an important part of gardening and it can be effectively done by using the bird barrier method.

Multi-Purpose Bird Barrier Netting

Bird netting is not just used to provide a barrier between crops and birds. It is also being used to protect buildings and this netting system in nylon material can be seen on city and town buildings worldwide. The main purpose for using bird netting system in buildings is for pigeon exclusion.

In an urban community where building protection is the main concern, the need to make sure that pigeons do not get into them or build nests outside is of utmost importance. In order to not jeopardize the aesthetic appeal of city and town buildings, aviary nettings available for urban living purposes are designed to blend in with the structures’ façade.

In an agricultural environment, bird-barrier systems secure valuable crops – fruits, vegetables and flowers – from getting attacked by wild and predatory birds. Often times, aviary netting is the most used physical exclusion system available to the farmers. This method can be effectively used with other garden netting and trellising methods like using tomato ring and Screen of Green methods. Some farmers also utilize other products designed to scare birds like predator balloons.

Different Bird Netting Designs for Different Bird Species

Bird-barrier netting is efficient to exclude a significant number of different bird species like pigeons, starlings, jays, sparrows and gulls. Of course, there are also different types of bird-barrier netting available. You need to identify the kind of birds the frequent your area to know which netting type is needed. Just keep in mind that for different bird species, different netting gauge is required.

Bird nets for agricultural use vary greatly in type and size depending on the target bird species, as well as the kind of environment or type of crops need protection. There are two types of bird barrier netting in general – the extruded netting and the oriented netting.

The extruded netting is made of plastic and built in continuous process that results in a net structure that is reliably stable because the holes’ size is constant. You may need this kind of bird netting if you need a vertical barrier to act as wall for pens, filtration, and predator control, physical barrier for your crops and as an application for effective separation in water. The oriented netting, on the other hand is used for horizontal applications such as; pond or crop covering, protection from airborne debris and protection from wild or predatory birds.

Bird nettings are also available in different colors. Though the colors may not seem of any importance for agricultural purposes, it is significant for building protection. The most commonly available bird-barrier netting colors are black, translucent and stone. The main idea is to pick a color that would easily blend in with the building façade, where the netting system will not be visible from a few meters away.

Since bird nettings are designed to provide ultimate protection against wild and predatory birds, they are manufactured to effectively withstand any kind of environmental and weather conditions. They are UV protected and neither they absorb water nor rot.

Agricultural Bird Netting Installation

Bird netting installation and gardening application is comparatively straightforward and despite the fact that there are several installation variations depending on the type of crops are being protected, the basic process of installation is mostly similar.

Basic installation for small or personal gardens involves draping the bird netting over the crops that need protection from the aviary attackers. In some instances, the netting can be simply let loose as it lies over the plants. Other farmers prefer the netting to be tied off. For larger agricultural applications, the bird-barrier netting suspension system is preferred.

The good thing about bird netting for protecting crops is that you have control over how you want it installed unlike for building applications where you need to specifically follow every manufacturer’s guidelines. In most cases, you may even have to hire extra people to do the installation if you are protecting a big building for potential pigeon attacks.

With agricultural applications, you will not need extra hands – unless of course, you are trying to protect a huge garden for commercial fruit, vegetable or flower productions. For personal or small-time farmers, purchasing the right bird-barrier netting is the first step. The second step is deciding how the netting should be installed; just lying there over the plants, ends tied off or through suspension system.

If you have other crop protection systems in place – like tomato ring, Screen of Green or trellising – then the suspension system is the one lost highly recommended. These additional protective methods allow you to provide superior protection for your crops and at the same time, you also assure that you are going to be rewarded with healthier and increased yields.

The best thing that you can do is to establish if there is really a need for a bird netting system within your garden. Then you need to identify the type of birds that are frequently flying around your area. Next, examine where (which part of the garden) these predators are usually nesting on. Measuring the area requiring netting protection is also a must thing to do.

Once you have done all that, then you would have a clear idea of what type of bird-barrier netting you need. You will also know the size and the kind of installation will be needed.