Nothing is more frustrating than having a bumper crop of fruit growing, only to have it eaten by pesky birds! While I don’t want them near my garden, I also don’t want to harm them with dangerous pesticides. So I decided to outsmart them.
I painted up these adorable rocks and made them look just like strawberries {just tell me they look exactly like berries and don’t crush my crafty spirit!}. Then I scattered them near my berry plants before they bore fruit. The theory is that the birds will peck at them, get frustrated and hurt their beaks, and then completely ignore the real fruit when it comes. I’ll keep you posted on how well it works, but if nothing else, I have some cute new decor for my garden!
Supplies
Rocks {larger ones work a little better}
Paint
Instructions
Using your best painting skills, paint some rocks to resemble fruit. I’ve read that reds will do the trick because they catch the bird’s eye, but who knows if that’s true. I just did strawberries because they seemed pretty easy to paint. And they were.
Scatter rocks near your berry plants and hopefully, your bird problem will fly south forever!
~Mavis
Debi says
Clever idea… I’ll be watching to see if it works! I think your craftiness is great, I couldn’t make a rock look like a strawberry! Have a great weeks!
Elise says
That’s a great idea!
My problem is grapes. I haven’t gotten ANY grapes from my 2 6 YO vines because the birds have been so desperate for moisture in the drought that they eat them before they’re even close to ripe đ
Anybody have any idea how to make this work for grapes?
wendy says
My mother in law used old sheer curtains to cover her grape vines. Worked great for birds and squirrels.
Practical Parsimony says
Make sure you keep water for the birds far from the grapes.
Tracy says
Try a big birdbath!
Jen says
I had a similar problem, squirrels kept eating my tomatoes. A neighbor told me they were probably looking for water and I should try adding a bird bath to my yard. I did and it worked like a charm.
Mel says
Our birds tend not to bother our strawberries, but we’ve had a major squirrel issue this year. They have systematically ripped off all the berries (some ripe, most not). They sometimes take a few bites but mostly just leave the picked, unripe berries to rot. We spent more than half the weekend building a Strawberry Fort Knox out of wire mesh and old fence sections to keep them out. When I came down this morning, 3 squirrels were on top of the mesh trying to find a way in, but so far it’s holding them off.
Marie says
photo please?
Andrea says
My problem was bird eating my tomatoes. So I took old CDs and DVDs that were too scratch and hung them off stakes near my plants with twine. The swinging motion and reflective surface of the CD scares them away.
Deborah from FL says
Love this idea! đ
Dana says
Rubber snakes spread around the garden worked for me last year for both squirrels and birds. Just move them around every few days and their instincts keep them from approaching. Just try to remind yourself (and any guests) that you put them there so you don’t scare yourself everyday when you come upon them (not that I had anything like that happen! ;-).
Deborah from FL says
Love this idea too!! đ
Karmen Paterson says
I love this idea. We are hanging old CD’ s in hopes that the birds will be scared away by our bad music taste but maybe we should do some painted rocks too… I mean, just in case.
Sue says
I had some success keeping birds off the growing fruit of a peach tree that was close to the house — by hanging a photo of an owl in the window!
For farther afield plants, I wonder if a two-sided owl photo hung from a tree might work.
I love these other ideas too and will be trying some of them!
Leslie says
I gave up on strawberries. Ants always destroyed my crop. Never harvested a single berry âšī¸
Nicole says
How did the rocks work? đ
Mavis Butterfield says
No birds so far. đ
Esther Hawkins says
I’ve painted rocks red for both my strawberries and my NanKing Cherry bushes. They seem to work pretty well. You don’t need a lot of detail…just paint them red.
Jacqui says
Imagine biting into a strawberry but instead it was a rock and what damage that would do to your teeth. Please don’t do this to birds, it could seriously injure them. You dont won’t to harm them with pesticides but you’re willing to hurt their beaks (your words!) for the sake of strawberries.