I was over at Greenfield Citrus Nursery in Mesa, AZ recently.  They sell citrus trees and a bunch of other fruit tress as well.  They have a large orchard made up mostly of citrus trees but there are also figs and some other types of fruit trees.  

I was talking to one of the workers there.  I mentioned that I lose a lot of figs to the birds if I don't cover my trees with netting.  She said that they have had problems before with birds damaging fruit.  She said what works best for them is to hang tinsel in the trees.  She said that the sun reflecting off of it really bothers the birds, especially when the wind is blowing.  

Has anyone else ever heard of using tinsel to keep the birds away from fruit?  Does it work good with fig trees?  I think I will hang tinsel in some of my trees this year to see if it works.

Interesting;  can you describe what the tinsel looked like?  Several different things get
called tinsel around here so it would help to know as I'd like to try it

Thanks.......

I've tried Mylar tape, CDs (they will damage your trees),  pie pans, etc. with no success.

John, by tinsel I mean the stuff you hang in your Christmas tree.  

This stuff:

She said the color doesn't really matter.


James, that's too bad that none of those things worked.  They all sound like they would be similar to tinsel.  The lady at the nursery swore by the tinsel though, so I think I will still give it a shot and see what happens.  Bird netting definitely works but I find it to be a big inconvenience.  I was hoping that the tinsel might be effective.

Joe, I call that stuff garland. Tinsel is the stuff you kinda place/throw on the tree. Usually sliver in color, very thin strips about a foot long or so.

I guess I need to brush up on my Christmas terminology... but I'm sure it's the stuff in the photo above.  She referred to it as tinsel and they even had some there for sale in their office.

Where do you get tinsel this time of year in Phoenix? If you find it, let me know.

Thanks Joe;  pictures helped.  I think they call that Garland here, but whatever
it is I'm sure we can find some and try it.

Fignatic, they had tinsel for sale at Greenfield Citrus Nursery for $0.25 per foot.  I'm pretty sure it would be cheaper to buy it online from Amazon or a similar site.

John, I'm going to try it.  I'll let the forum know if it works in my yard.  Bird netting is the only thing that I have found to be effective so far.

Joe;  When you use bird netting are you referring to enclosing the whole plant or
is it possible to enclose individual figs?  I guess that would be a pain, but for
someone who get 6 or 8 figs total, it's a thought.  I tried it last year but the
critters just ripped the netting off.  Didn't see them so not sure it was birds.....

I have always used bird netting to enclose whole trees, not individual fruit.  But my inground trees are getting larger now and it would require a lot of netting.  We get pretty windy weather when storms pass through here and it blows the netting all over the place.  Sometimes birds get caught inside the netting.  It looks bad and affects the way the new leaves that are growing develop because they have to push against the netting as they form.  It keeps the birds off the fruit but is a pain and definitely has drawbacks.

I can't stand using netting. After disentangling two very angry gopher snakes (unharmed), I stopped using it.  Another died because I did not find it in time. Very sad.

I also think of tinsel as the thin strands you hang on the tree, and garland to me is not tinsel. But... if you do a google image search for 'tinsel', most photos are of garland. So maybe the terms have changed.

The garland would be easier to use. YOu could probably try smaller length's attached with clothes pins.

Last year I tried putting each fig into a little sheer baggie. 'They' removed the entire thing. Probably not birds.

I've used mylar tape to keep birds away from the blueberries, but it's only partially effective. Better than nothing however. But the birds will get used to it in a few weeks. The package says it's most effective for 6 weeks.

I think you and John are right.  It is supposed to be called garland.  But I've always known it as tinsel and I guess some other people call it that too.  I'm sure it is not as effective as netting.  But even if it reduces the loss to birds somewhat it may still be worth it.  In the summertime the figs ripen pretty fast here.  I had a real problem in the fall when the temps dropped and the figs took a lot longer to ripen.  Thats when the birds started getting almost all of them.  I may resort to using netting again if I start losing too many figs to the birds this year.

It may make a big difference how you hang it.  Draped like Christmas tree garland,
(i.e., mostly horizontal), it would take a good breeze to make the individual needles wave and therefore flash - if that's what scares the birds.

But if you cut pieces a foot or 2 long and hung them by nylon thread (fishing line?), I'll bet they would move pretty much all the time and maybe work better.

I'll probably go back to netting IF I can find 1/2" squares.  The wrens go through the
standard 3/4" stuff like open doors.

Great video and good idea.  Thanks for sharing it.  By the way, signature says CT but
the video showed palm trees!  Where in CT are you  : - )

Here's where I buy bird netting and shade cloth.   It's 3/4 X 3/4 mesh (Sorry Alan).

http://amigoni.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=101&Category_Code=BN

I just can't see wrapping individual figs.  

(Black Turkey???)

Centurion  They do have a smaller mesh too; Not sure I could use 820' of it, but maybe some of us could go in together on a roll...  Thanks for the link.

I wish I could get a Cooper's Hawk to nest near my house.  That would be the best solution.  I see hawks fly over sometimes and all the birds scatter.

Thanks for the tip.   Tinsel/Garland it will be.   I will try it.  The neighbors will really be talking now.   Tinsel/Garland in 115+ degree weather.    Better yet.  HOA will be writing some letters if they even see it pop up over the fence.   

I just joined this figs4fun forum and I noticed this conversation about keeping birds out of the fig trees. I fought that all of my gardening life. I tried everything and nothing worked more than a week but I found on an internet search an inflatable scarecrow called AIRCROW. Man that thing works. I didn't loose hardly a one. I was shocked at how many figs I got because I didn't have to share it with the birds.

It's kind of funny because I got to feeling sorry for the birds and turned it off after I got all I wanted.

Anyway I'm glad to find some other fig lovers out there. Maybe I'll get to meet some of y'all at a festival.

Dr. Stocks

Welcome, Dr Stocks!  You'll get more welcomes if you introduce yourself in a new thread where you're from, what kinds of plants and figs you grow, that sort of thing.  Thanks for the info on the aircrow.

It's Festivus for the rest of us!