How to Protect Cherry Trees From Birds

Grackles love to eat cherries

Birds play an important role in the propagation of trees by dispersing their seeds in droppings. Unfortunately, they have to eat the seeds first, which in the case of cherry trees mean they eat the fruit. Grackles, catbirds, blackbirds and starlings often win by sheer numbers, but that doesn't mean you have to stop trying to discourage or frighten them away from your tree. There are several methods for keeping birds off cherry trees. Learn as many as you can and choose the one that's best for you.

Things You'll Need

• Pest netting
• Aluminum pie tins
• Mylar strips
• String
• Tin cans
• Pebbles
• Ear protection
• Air horn

Instructions

1. Tent small trees with pest netting from your garden center or nursery. Cover the tree completely, all the way to the ground, where you can stake it to the ground with plant stakes, or tie it at the trunk with string. This is the most effective method of bird control, according to Utah State University Extension, but you will still lose a few cherries at the surface of the netting, where birds can still peck at them.

2. Punch holes in aluminum pie tins with a scissors blade and suspend them from branches with string. Disperse them evenly on outside branches and inside the crow of the cherry tree. Tie them in pairs and they will clatter in the breeze, and flash in sunlight, frightening the birds away.

3. Drill holes in tin cans with a drill and put a few pebbles or gravel in the bottom. Run string through the holes and knot to form a loop. Tie another, long piece of string to the loop. Hang each tin can on a cherry tree branch. Tie a piece of string to the branch and run it all the way to a window in your house where you can see the tree. Run the string under the screen, and leave the screen up a hair so the string can move freely.

4. Watch for the birds to land on your cherry tree, then yank the string, causing the branch to move, the cans to sway and the pebbles to rattle. This method is very effective when done consistently.

5. If you have no neighbors nearby, put on some ear protection, such as earplugs or sound-dampening headphones. Use an air horn to frighten birds away.

Tips & Warnings

• Avoid planting cherry trees near the border of a wooded area. Birds that nest in the woods will feel free to forage in your trees if they know there is cover nearby.

• Don't bother with imitation "predators" like rubber snakes or plastic owls. Birds will quickly learn that fake predator doesn't move, and isn't dangerous, according to New Mexico State University Extension.

References

• Utah State University: Frequently Asked Questions
• University of Nebraska Lincoln: Bird Damage in Fruit Crops
• New Mexico State University: Issue: June 2, 1997

Resources

• Michigan State University: Controlling Bird Damage to Fruit
• University of Nebraska Lincoln: Sonic Systems for Controlling Bird Depredations