We have a real problem with bower birds attacking the vegetable garden and parrots and cockatoos eating our fruit.
So, I have had to come up with ways to prevent our crops being taken.
One of the cheapest ways to stop animal attack on your crops is to construct enclosure as per the picture above.
Learn how we net our fruit trees here:
What I use is as follows:
- 1.8m is steel post like these https://www.bunnings.com.au/longyard-180cm-1-7kg-m-black-steel-fence-post-10-pack_p0066693
- Heavy duty poly pipe like these https://www.vinidex.com.au/products/pe-systems/pe-pipe/rural-pipe/
- 10m wide netting like these https://haverford.com.au/collections/white-diamond-mesh-bird-netting
- Something to weigh the netting down- pavers, bricks or more steel posts or turf pegs to pin it down.
Whilst I have given you a link to what I have used, I am not endorsing the product nor gaining any financial benefits by giving you the link. It is simply what I used.
Method.
Determine dimensions of area.
Calculate how may post require and where to put them in. I put them in pairs at 2-meter intervals.
Hammer steel post into the ground till firm.
Cut the pipe to 11/4 time the width of the enclosure.
Place end of pipe over the top of each of the pairs of steel posts and push down to form and arch.
Cut netting to size- length of enclosure plus approximately 1.5m of each end.
Drag netting over the top and down the sides of the arches and pin down all the way around.
So, if you wanted to build a 3x4meter enclosure.
You would need 6 steel posts
3 pieces of pipe- 3.7m long
7 to 8 m of netting.
The following is a link to a video on netting espalier fruit trees which will give you an idea of what to do.
This is an easy solution to a bird or possum problem. It is not pretty and for vegetable gardens it can be frustrating getting in and out of the enclosure to plant and harvest your crops. It is however cheap and quick to put up.
Update: Since writing this post I have replaced my netted enclosures with permanent enclosures. Certainly not a cheap exercise but it makes life so much easier in both the vegetable garden and the orchard. Here is a link to the post I wrote about why I went to permanent enclosures.
