Eating grapes from birds, help me, how can i stop definitely?!

[cowine7]

My question is what can I do with my vineyards, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon & Tempranillo.
Different birds attack my vineyards and eat grapes in different areas. But often is the type: The Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius)

The vineyards are located in the hills, Coastal field area up to 300m.

Some suggestions please what can I do? ((

 

[David Engel]

Cover them if practical.

 

[Hazelemere]

My question is what can I do with my vineyards, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon & Tempranillo.
Different birds attack my vineyards and eat grapes in different areas. But often is the type: The Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius)

The vineyards are located in the hills, Coastal field area up to 300m.

Some suggestions please what can I do? ((

put up bird nets

 

[ratflinger]

Buy a 12ga.

 

[winemaker81]

Buy a 12ga.

For most birds, a 20 gauge or .410 is sufficient.

Listening to grape growers, you need netting. Stake the netting down, as the $&#***% birds will crawl under it to get to the grapes.

 

[ibglowin]

I was amazed at how well these work if you have a small(er) vineyard.

 

[GSMChris]

Are these Amazon specials?

I was amazed at how well these work if you have a small(er) vineyard.

View attachment 105262

View attachment 105261

 

[ibglowin]

Are these Amazon specials?

Yep, I have a couple of the owls and a couple of the hawks. I rotate them around my vines every 7-10 days so they don't get used to them. I suppose it might depend on your particular types of birds in your area but for me they work great. I used to net but no longer. We got a pretty severe hail storm a few months back which tore up the crop this year and it just wasn't enough left to mess with so I did not put up the birds of prey. Those suckers (local birds) started hitting the grapes long before they were ripe and now what was left is completely gone. I space mine about every 15ft so if you have a large vineyard not sure if you need that amount or could get by with a larger spacing or not.

 

[ratflinger]

For most birds, a 20 gauge or .410 is sufficient.

Listening to grape growers, you need netting. Stake the netting down, as the $&#***% birds will crawl under it to get to the grapes.

Why use a grenade when a nuke will do?

 

[Snafflebit]

For most birds, a 20 gauge or .410 is sufficient.

Listening to grape growers, you need netting. Stake the netting down, as the $&#***% birds will crawl under it to get to the grapes.

I can't hit the broad side of a barn with a .410 Definitely bigger is better!

 

[TurkeyHollow]

For most birds, a 20 gauge or .410 is sufficient.

Listening to grape growers, you need netting. Stake the netting down, as the $&#***% birds will crawl under it to get to the grapes.

Have you bought any .410 lately ($$$)? 12 ga. definitely more bang for the buck - literally and figuratively.

 

[Vern]

I use a insect netting and use spring clips at 3 feet. I've had good results.

 

[Cedar Hill]

I have a small vineyard. I tried netting (and row cover), but I had problems installing, and bigger problems removing it.
Somewhere, I read about hanging CD's from strings scattered about the vineyard.
I've been doing it for about five years now, and the biggest problem I have is untangling the CD's when they twist around the grow wires.
I put them up when the vines first show fruit, and any birds in the area take off.

 

[NorCal]

Netting. I don’t have bird problems. I think it is due to our local hawk population. They get a chicken or two of ours every year, I guess a small price to pay.

 

[Snafflebit]

Netting is the most effective solution. Foil scare tape helps a little bit.

I don't know what your trellis looks like, but if it is VSP, you can wrap a roll of netting around both sides of just the grapes. Even less than perfect netting seems to prevent most of the pilfering and perfect netting never protects all the grapes anyway.

 

[vtoddw]

Installing and removing nets is the bane of my existence, but it has been the only way to keep this massive gang of sparrows from devouring my small backyard vineyard every summer. I've tried these side nets, which work well if you seal the top and bottom every 12 or so inches, but it takes hours to do...

https://www.plantra.com/AviGard-Easy-Fit-Square-Mesh-Vineyard-Side-Nets_c_163.html
I decided this year to try their other netting which is 17 ft x 250 ft. It's much easier to install, however, it causes the vsp shoots to bed over at the top which prevents the leaves from being able to turn themselves toward and away from the sun as needed, which is not great for the ripening process or vine health from what I understand.

For the record I've never seen a single commercial winery here in Temecula with netting on their rows, but they all have owl boxes scattered around their vineyards, so im pretty sure that's the best approach.

 

[David Engel]

Here’s my solution from city birds.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

Start feeding stray cats near the vines

 

[ChuckD]

For the record I've never seen a single commercial winery here in Temecula with netting on their rows, but they all have owl boxes scattered around their vineyards, so im pretty sure that's the best approach.

Perhaps the amount of damage birds can do on dozens, or hundreds of aces of grapes just isn’t significant compared to a small home vineyard. That and the effort to protect them with netting isn’t cost effective.

 

[countygrapeguy]

Perhaps the amount of damage birds can do on dozens, or hundreds of aces of grapes just isn’t significant compared to a small home vineyard. That and the effort to protect them with netting isn’t cost effective.

Some of the smaller commercial vineyards around here (~5 acres) put netting on everything.

The bigger vineyards will sometime net just a few rows bordering their hedgerows, and use noise makers (imagine sounds of birds dying horrible deaths) + sparkly ribbons elsewhere