How to keep birds of newly planted vegetable garde

omaria, Oct 21, 8:02am
I just spotted that one had pulled out the lettuce plants, I cant cover the area, how else can I discourage them from feeding on my pride and joy?
happychappy50, Oct 21, 8:40am
I made some clotches out of chicken wire to stop this,birds are looking for moisture & bugs,once established they will leave them alone . can understand your frustration
omaria, Oct 21, 8:50am
Thanks happy chappy. Would a line across with bits of aluminium foil work?
happychappy50, Oct 21, 8:56am
You could try that,even put out a dish with water in it for the birds,I have & it helps a bit.A physical barrier will work tho in the long run
tourer100, Oct 21, 8:57am
Netting, they keep digging underneath my plants, no matter how big they get, they are raising babies and looking for food,
cantabman1, Oct 21, 10:01am
Bird netting is cheap as chips from Bunnings!
lythande1, Oct 21, 1:34pm
Husband has used black cotton just across the top of seedlings for 39 years. Works perfectly.
omaria, Oct 21, 1:51pm
I strung a line and covered it with foil strings, hopefully it works.
holmda, Oct 21, 1:53pm
Before I got netting, I used to cut the ends off softdrink and juice bottles and put a bottle over each seedling - push it in about one third of the way so that they don't blow out with the wind. They would act like little greenhouses and would stop the birds from digging the seedling up.
omaria, Oct 21, 4:55pm
Great idea Holmda thanks. I see how my string works and if not, maybe I can collect all the soft drink bottles for a week. hmmmmm. too many plants not enough bottles. start drinking girl LOL
razell, Oct 21, 7:11pm
I use old freezer basket and other square wire baskets upside down over seedlings. They keep out birds and cats and are heavy enough that they don't blow away. They don't need to be shifted to water. I shift them when the plants start to out grow them.
..pip.., Oct 21, 7:19pm
Netting and also make sure there is plenty of water around.
brightlights60, Mar 2, 7:47am
For some of the plants I use a cage made of a half round of very large squared plastic trellis wire and then chuck bird netting over it at night. I see the garden centres and places like the warehouse now have the joiners for making frames out of things like bamboo. They look like leggo pieces and you can piece together all sorts of frames for over your plants whether you want to put bird netting, plastic or shade or wind cloth over them. Good idea.