Here's a lesser known trick that old timers used to keep the birds away from figs and other tree fruit. IT REALLY WORKS, I learned it from my grandparents, and have used it on my plum tree and blackberry bushes:
Attach aluminum pie pans near the ends of the branches. Space them about 3 - 5 feet apart. You can reach the higher branches by tying some weight (large metal nut, lead fishing weight, etc.) to the end of some fishing line, then throw it over the higher branches. When the weight comes back down, remove the weight, attach the aluminum, then pull it back up to the high branch.
I, loving "free shit", missed out on protecting my mulberry tree this year while waiting for a friend who kept saying they were going to bring me some pie pans. The birds have eaten approx. 3/4 of my mulberries....I managed to harvest enough to make 2+ pints of preserves yesterday.......Oh yeah, and the pie pans arrived a few hours after I put the lid on the preserves. [img]http://www.arrse.co.uk/at I should be able to harvest a little more when they ripen......Oh well, there's always next year......errrr, maybe, providing the apocalypse doesn't happen first.
