Bird Exclusion Netting as a Means of Bird Control in Vineyards
Bird Exclusion Netting GUACAMALLAS® the sophistication of Vineyard Management
The bird exclusion Netting is an alternative to metal mesh that can harm birds. There was a time when grape growers resigned themselves to birds having “their share” of a crop of grapes.
Bird exclusion net is regard as an inevitable cost in raising grapes; the price of grapes increased, spend money to improve and to sophisticated about vineyard management, including bird control in vineyards.
All this makes the value of the harvest increase. Also and go beyond the conventional way of doing things.
It can be as little as 6 feet between rows and, with the vines pruned and trellised to have vertical canes, as little as 4 feet in the row.
Trellising and vine and foliage pruning have developed almost to the point of becoming art forms.
At one time frost control consisted of burning old tires in the vineyard; but the value of grapes has encouraged more sophisticated means such as laser land leveling, computerized weather stations, wind machines and helicopters, and over-vine sprinklers. Bird control in vineyards is now also be in practiced.
The Culprits
Grapes make pretty expensive bird feed and so it is frustrating for the caretaker of a vineyard to find clusters of ripening grapes with most of the grapes missing or berries pecked open with juice oozing out.
The juice of pecked up berries attracts insects which can cause damage. Fungal infections can result from the juice dripping onto other berries and lead to the loss of the entire cluster.
The most obvious damage is the removal of entire berries and the main culprits of this are starlings.
Other birds known to pluck whole berries are other blackbirds, robins, cedar waxwings, and mockingbirds; however, robins usually tend to peck berries open.
Methods of Bird Control in Vineyards
Measuring grape loss to birds in a vineyard is difficult to do and it varies by locale and from year to year.
But, when margins between income and expenses are thin, bird loss could easily be the difference between a profit and a loss.
With yields of four tons or more per acre for wine grapes and ten tons or more for table grapes, there is a lot of money at stake per acre.
Seeing a flock of starlings settle down in a vineyard, might be enough to make a grape grower want to run for a shotgun in order to kill some and scare the rest off.
The Migratory Bird Treaty Act (between the USA and Canada) allows for the legal killing of starlings. But who wants to sit around with a shotgun just waiting for starlings to show up?
A better solution would be the capture and subsequent relocation or elimination of pest birds (and the release of any other birds) using the modified Australian crow (MAC) trap or mist netting.
Even with the more humane MAC, local laws may prohibit capture of the target species.
A better solution to this problem is the installation of anti bird mesh GUACAMALLAS® since it is friendly to birds.
Other ways to keep away the birds
Visual devices to frighten off birds, such as scare-eye balloons, mylar flash tape, hawk kites, predator decoys, and the standard scarecrow, have limited effectiveness. They perform better when used along with acoustical devices. Birds all-too quickly become sufficiently accustomed (habituation) to visual deterrents so that their hunger for those tempting grapes overrides their diminishing nervousness about the visual devices.
Bird Exclusion Netting
Along with all the other options for bird control in vineyards, bird control netting (also known as bird exclusion, bird barrier, and anti-bird netting) has also been a viable option.
One will be think that it will be cost prohibitive, too time consuming, and just too complicate to be worthwhile.
And maybe it would be okay for several rows, but not for a large vineyard. Bird control netting is not expensive.
At a time and place that specialty grapes bring more than $2,000 USD per ton, ten acres (4 hectares) of this crop can be cover with netting for about $350 USD per acre.
Growers have a choice of two kinds of nets: reusable and disposable.
The reusable bird exclusion netting costs more than the disposable; but it is an asset whose total cost is not an expense the first year but is rather amortized over the lifespan of the product and thus results in a lower annual cost than disposable netting.
Because of its cost effectiveness and advantages, netting has come to be widely used in numerous countries for bird control in vineyards.
HORTOMALLAS®® bird control netting
GUACAMALLAS® is the HORTOMALLAS®® netting for bird control in vineyards.
It is made of extruded polypropylene and is available in 4.3 m (14.1 ft) and 5.2 m (17.1 Ft) widths, has a length of 1,524 m (5,000 ft), and weighs between 104 and 127 kilos (229 and 280 lbs).
Other methods of bird control in vineyards will always have their place but usually as supplemental aids. For serious bird problems you need a serious solution and that is netting. Objections that used to come to mind about the use of netting in vineyards, just do not apply anymore. It is financially feasible and there are equipment and devices to make the application, removal and reuse of netting practical. A good choice is the rugged, long-lasting, extruded GUACAMALLAS® bird exclusion netting by HORTOMALLAS®®.
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Bird Exclusion Netting GUACAMALLAS® the sophistication of Vineyard Management
The bird exclusion Netting is an alternative to metal mesh that can harm birds. There was a time when grape growers resigned themselves to birds having “their share” of a crop of grapes.
Bird exclusion net is regard as an inevitable cost in raising grapes; the price of grapes increased, spend money to improve and to sophisticated about vineyard management, including bird control in vineyards.
All this makes the value of the harvest increase. Also and go beyond the conventional way of doing things.
It can be as little as 6 feet between rows and, with the vines pruned and trellised to have vertical canes, as little as 4 feet in the row.
Trellising and vine and foliage pruning have developed almost to the point of becoming art forms.
At one time frost control consisted of burning old tires in the vineyard; but the value of grapes has encouraged more sophisticated means such as laser land leveling, computerized weather stations, wind machines and helicopters, and over-vine sprinklers. Bird control in vineyards is now also be in practiced.
The Culprits
Grapes make pretty expensive bird feed and so it is frustrating for the caretaker of a vineyard to find clusters of ripening grapes with most of the grapes missing or berries pecked open with juice oozing out.
The juice of pecked up berries attracts insects which can cause damage. Fungal infections can result from the juice dripping onto other berries and lead to the loss of the entire cluster.
The most obvious damage is the removal of entire berries and the main culprits of this are starlings.
Other birds known to pluck whole berries are other blackbirds, robins, cedar waxwings, and mockingbirds; however, robins usually tend to peck berries open.
Methods of Bird Control in Vineyards
Measuring grape loss to birds in a vineyard is difficult to do and it varies by locale and from year to year.
But, when margins between income and expenses are thin, bird loss could easily be the difference between a profit and a loss.
With yields of four tons or more per acre for wine grapes and ten tons or more for table grapes, there is a lot of money at stake per acre.
Seeing a flock of starlings settle down in a vineyard, might be enough to make a grape grower want to run for a shotgun in order to kill some and scare the rest off.
The Migratory Bird Treaty Act (between the USA and Canada) allows for the legal killing of starlings. But who wants to sit around with a shotgun just waiting for starlings to show up?
A better solution would be the capture and subsequent relocation or elimination of pest birds (and the release of any other birds) using the modified Australian crow (MAC) trap or mist netting.
Even with the more humane MAC, local laws may prohibit capture of the target species.
A better solution to this problem is the installation of anti bird mesh GUACAMALLAS® since it is friendly to birds.
Other ways to keep away the birds
Visual devices to frighten off birds, such as scare-eye balloons, mylar flash tape, hawk kites, predator decoys, and the standard scarecrow, have limited effectiveness. They perform better when used along with acoustical devices. Birds all-too quickly become sufficiently accustomed (habituation) to visual deterrents so that their hunger for those tempting grapes overrides their diminishing nervousness about the visual devices.
Bird Exclusion Netting
Along with all the other options for bird control in vineyards, bird control netting (also known as bird exclusion, bird barrier, and anti-bird netting) has also been a viable option.
One will be think that it will be cost prohibitive, too time consuming, and just too complicate to be worthwhile.
And maybe it would be okay for several rows, but not for a large vineyard. Bird control netting is not expensive.
At a time and place that specialty grapes bring more than $2,000 USD per ton, ten acres (4 hectares) of this crop can be cover with netting for about $350 USD per acre.
Growers have a choice of two kinds of nets: reusable and disposable.
The reusable bird exclusion netting costs more than the disposable; but it is an asset whose total cost is not an expense the first year but is rather amortized over the lifespan of the product and thus results in a lower annual cost than disposable netting.
Because of its cost effectiveness and advantages, netting has come to be widely used in numerous countries for bird control in vineyards.
HORTOMALLAS®® bird control netting
GUACAMALLAS® is the HORTOMALLAS®® netting for bird control in vineyards.
It is made of extruded polypropylene and is available in 4.3 m (14.1 ft) and 5.2 m (17.1 Ft) widths, has a length of 1,524 m (5,000 ft), and weighs between 104 and 127 kilos (229 and 280 lbs).
Other methods of bird control in vineyards will always have their place but usually as supplemental aids. For serious bird problems you need a serious solution and that is netting. Objections that used to come to mind about the use of netting in vineyards, just do not apply anymore. It is financially feasible and there are equipment and devices to make the application, removal and reuse of netting practical. A good choice is the rugged, long-lasting, extruded GUACAMALLAS® bird exclusion netting by HORTOMALLAS®®.
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