Bird Netting and Wasp control

[SundownVineyard]

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...

 

[KevinL]

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.

 

[acorad]

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

 

[wood1954]

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.

 

[wfournier]

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.