# Bird Netting and Wasp control



## SundownVineyard (Aug 25, 2019)

I just put new bird netting on my grapes and I love it because its woven and doesnt get caught in vines or itself. The holes are also very small (1/4" I think) and birds cant get caught. My question is could they be shading the vines too much? My guess is that it's a non-issue, but wanted to throw it out there. 

Regarding wasps/hornets, a friend told me that yellow jackets destroyed his grapes last year. I had been spraying for Jap Beetles, so maybe that's why I havent noticed them, but more recently I stepped on a nest among the vines and was wondering if that's something I should be concerned about. I then mowed and weed whacked the vineyard and sprayed the nest I stepped on and another I found on a post. The bird netting has such small holes that it seems like they might keep some wasps/hornets at bay, but I'm sure they will get through if they want...


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## KevinL (Aug 25, 2019)

My understanding with nets is that there is no effect as far as shading.

With regards to wasps, I lost a lot of grapes to them last year before I hit the grapes with Liquid Sevin. That completely mitigated the issue.


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## acorad (Aug 29, 2019)

Wasps took my entire harvest last year. Truly disheartening. I'm using bee netting this year, and no problems with bees. The field rats, on the other hand, are a different discussion...

Andy


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## wood1954 (Sep 16, 2019)

I found a ground nest of the little yellow jackets close to my vineyard and destroyed it. when picking grapes yesterday I didn't see any of them at all, however I did see some honeybees and ants. I'm not sure if Sevin would help as it's more likely they would just eat the juice in the berry. do a check around the vineyard looking for nests and destroy them is always worth a try.


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## wfournier (Sep 16, 2019)

SundownVineyard said:


> I just put new bird netting on my grapes and I love it because its woven and doesnt get caught in vines or itself. The holes are also very small (1/4" I think) and birds cant get caught. My question is could they be shading the vines too much? My guess is that it's a non-issue, but wanted to throw it out there.



I'm curious what netting you used, I think we may be looking for something a little different next year as a couple birds did get stuck in our netting and that is something we would like to try to avoid in the future.


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