A Shiny Solution to Deter Birds From Fruit Trees

I enjoy welcoming birds to my garden.  I usually have bird seed available for them and grow a few sunflowers just so they can enjoy their seeds.

What I don’t particularly enjoy is when birds descend upon my fruit trees and start to eat my ripening fruit.  Faced with this problem, many gardeners will head to their local garden center and buy fine mesh netting to cover their trees with in order to protect them from birds.  BUT, this is not a bird-friendly option.  Often, birds can find their way into the netting and get caught without being able to escape and eventually die.

So, are there any options available that won’t harm birds?  Absolutely!  What is even better – you probably already have what you need to deter birds from eating the fruit from your trees.

Yes, those shiny circles are CD’s hanging from a citrus tree and believe it or not, they do help keep birds away from the fruit.  You see, birds don’t like reflective surfaces, like those on CD’s.  Pie plates and foil strips also work well when tied in a tree.

When my newly planted peach tree started producing peaches, the birds soon started eating the fruit.  So, I headed indoors and grabbed some old CD’s that I no longer listen too and tied them to my tree.

It worked like magic.  I never saw another bird near my peach tree and I later had a nice harvest of delicious peaches.

Once you harvest your fruit, remove your shiny objects and save them for the next year.  This is a great solution to deterring birds while not harming them using items you already have.

If you don’t want shiny things in your fruit trees, you can try offering them an alternative food source like bird seed in another are of your garden, far from your trees.

How about you?  Do you have problems with birds eating your fruit?  What bird-friendly methods have you tried to keep them away?