It is extremely frustrating when you are ready to pick your grapes and find out that birds have beaten you to the fruit.
Netting is one of the most effective ways to keep those birds off. I use lighter netting that I can stretch over the vines. If I stretch it tightly so that it doesn’t droop on the vines, the mesh is constricted in such a way that the edges of the net do not reach the ground. But if the net is not stretched the birds are able to sit in the loose folds of the net and easily reach my grapes.
I have two ways to deal with this.
I have steel posts in the vineyard to hold the top wire. I take a 1 ½ inch diameter piece of PVC pipe about one foot long. I drill a ¾ inch hole in one end and put a 30 inch piece of ½ inch plastic black water pipe through the hole. I place the pipe on top of the steel post with the water pipe perpendicular to the row. This holds the net up and away from the grapes so the birds can’t just sit on the net and eat to their heart’s content.
I then buy a roll of plastic material used to hold large round hay bales together. There are many thousands of feet of material that can be used for netting. It is about 5 ½ to 6 feet wide. I roll out the hay netting and fasten to the bottom of the nets stretched across my vines. This hay netting is long enough to reach the ground, acting as an extension to my regular netting. It the hay netting gets a hole from a critter like a raccoon it is not big deal and can be repaired or replaced with little time, effort and cost.
Not only can this inexpensive hay netting be used as an extension to regular netting, it can also be a good alternative for regular netting. Keep in mind that several lengths will have to be used to stretch over a grapevine.
I have used this hay netting to hang from electric fences so that deer can see the fence. I just used plastic zip ties to hold it to the wire. This deters the deer to some degree since they will avoid obstacles they can see, particularly one that moves and flutters in the breeze.
If you are careful you can roll up the hay netting and reuse it the next year if it is not badly damaged. If it is too far gone just roll it up and recycle. But be sure to not leave any netting behind which can be wrapped up in a mower, that’ll just turn our little money-saver into a bigger hassle then you want!