Protect Fruit Trees from Birds with Pest Control Methods

Commercial fruit growers are all too aware of the problem pest birds can do to their crops. You might think everyone would implement pest control methods, but many will take the potential losses and incur the cost as part of their fruit production. However, other growers may decide that it’s wiser
to protect their trees from pest birds in an attempt to lower their losses and increase the value of their crop.

Obviously, it’s up to each grower to decide whether the benefits and costs of having pest control methods outweigh the potential fruit losses.

Netting:

This method prevents the birds from getting to the fruit. However, it can be expensive and very labour intensive to install and maintain. 

• Taste – Repellents applied directly to the fruits to deter feeding.
• Motion – Sprinklers, lights or artificial kites of hunting birds. Holographic ribbons. Scare-windmills; these have wind-blades that are painted with UV light reflecting paint and are said to resemble a flock of startled birds taking off.
• Sight/Auditory – Models of owls which also produce predator calls, followed by bird distress calls. Models/flying kites of hunting birds. A visual scare of ‘terror eyes’ can be used to confuse pest birds with predator markings and reflective eyes.
• Good old-fashioned scarecrows or the latest designs that have infrared sensors that detect the birds and squirts a jet of water to startle them.Auditory – Cannons and bird distress callers which cause fear or pain when the decibels are set to the correct levels; however, for these to be wholly effective the pest bird species needs to be identified. Holographic tapes.