What effective methods are there to control bird damage in orchards?
Friends who grow orchards all face a troubling problem: bird damage in the orchard, which in severe cases causes the fruit to become damaged, lowering its market value so that fruit growers cannot make money. So what effective defense methods against bird damage in orchards are there? Let's take a look together below.
1. Set up protective measures
Because birds fly in the sky, ground-level protection cannot defend against them; an overall protective net must be set up. Although this is a considerable expense, it can effectively prevent bird damage, increase the marketability of the fruit, and fetch a high price. In addition, the protective net can also prevent natural disasters, such as ice damage, strong winds, intense sunlight, and other weather. However, the protective net still has its drawbacks, because it ages easily, so after picking the fruit we should store it well, so that it can be reused the following year.
2. Lay reflective film
If professional reflective film is laid on the ground or reflective strips or CDs are hung up, the reflected light will stimulate the birds' vision and make them afraid to approach the surroundings of the orchard, naturally reducing the damage birds do to the fruit.
3. Sound measures
Birds are also rather timid creatures. If devices that produce the sounds of birds' natural enemies or firecrackers are installed around the orchard, the birds will hear the sound and not dare to approach, though this requires placing a loudspeaker in the orchard for a long time.
4. Manual methods
Birds are very active in the three periods of early morning, midday, and dusk, so fruit growers can seize these three time periods to drive the birds away from the orchard at fixed times. Of course, this method is rather rigid, because driving them away just once cannot possibly drive them all away; we need to repeat the mechanical process several times. Therefore, this kind of method is not suitable for orchards that are relatively far away or large in scale.
5. Put up a scarecrow or pictures of animals
We often see cute scarecrows in rice paddies, and this is also a method of preventing bird damage that can likewise be used in orchards. Because birds' eyes see very clearly, if you place a scarecrow they will think a real fruit grower is standing there, become very frightened, and not dare to approach. If you can combine the scarecrow with sound, it will surely achieve twice the result with half the effort.
6. Bagging the fruit
Bagging the fruit is a very good method of resisting bird damage. Although it cannot drive the birds away, the birds will not easily tear open the bags you put on to bite the fruit. You can choose bags of relatively good quality, relatively high hardness, or directly use nylon bags to wrap them, which is somewhat more effective. Bagging the fruit can also reduce the occurrence of fruit diseases and the impact of climate change on them.