July 28, 2020

Hoping to Save Some Elderberries

Last year my elder bushes bloomed well, but birds got most of the berries. They will eat them green, which means I don't have much of a chance when it comes to getting a share of the harvest. I never mind sharing with the birds, but I want some too!


This year, I decided to try netting bags, to see if I could save some of my elderberries.


I bought them on Amazon (link here), 50, approximately 10-inch by 6-inch net bags for about $16. The netting is sturdy, seams are double folded, and each bag has a drawstring.


Size-wise, they are a little small for large clusters of elderberries, but the next larger size jumped too much in price.


I made do by either stuffing the clusters into the bags, or splitting them between two bags.


I thought 50 would be a lot, but in fact, they didn't go very far! So I bought another set and ended up using about 90 total.


How well they'll work, I have no idea. I suppose it depends on how much sun the individual berries require. I think they would be useful for seed savers too, to prevent cross-pollination by insects.

Making these bags would be an easy DIY project, if one could find sturdy enough netting. The netting and tulle I see in fabric stores would be too soft. But that would be the best way to have larger bags. Dan was hoping to use them on his sunflowers to protect the seed from the birds, but these are too small. Larger bags are definitely in order.

Hopefully, I'll get plenty of elderberries this year! Do you have critter problems? What are your solutions for critters who help themselves to more than their fair share?

26 comments:

Gorges Smythe said...

Same way with my wild blackberries; I rarely get more than one handful.

Boud said...

I used to have a wonderful hazelnut tree, which I planted. Large crops of nuts of which I never got one. Squirrels ate them all green. Likewise sunflowers, the seeds instead of being my snacks, became a goldfinch cafeteria. I didn't mind that so much though.

wyomingheart said...

Hello, Leigh. We used green bird netting , which still allows bees to pollinate, but keeps those rascal birds out. It however is not much help for those pesky chipmunks. The squirrels don’t seem to bother much, but the chipmunks are fruit destroyers. We have noticed several large garden snakes this summer, and a slight decrease in the squirrels. Hoping that continues! Thanks for the info, and have a great week! How are your tomatoes looking?

Mama Pea said...

I like the looks of those bags and sure hope they do the trick for you. We had robins attack our ripening haskap berries this year (first time, go figure) so covered all the bushes (only three) with Agribon and that saved our berries. Then a week or so ago, the crows were sampling the first ripe blueberries. This was a bigger chore to cover but happily we had stashed away a whole roll of Agribon and were able to cover the two and a half rows of blueberry bushes. We held it down with rebar but our winds night before last uncovered the bushes. So yesterday we covered the bushes again, after our first harvest, and added cement half blocks for weight. Also, we have chipmunks by the patch and have been live trapping them, then sending them on to a new "location." It's a battle, but the wild birds/critters are just looking for food. But so are we. Let us know how these new bags worked for you.

Leigh said...

Gorges, that's a tough one. No way to protect the individual berries. :(

Boud, the squirrels eat our pecans green too! It's annoying when we have way more acorns available than pecans. Not sure if there's any help for that. The net bags would work for the sunflowers though.

Wyomingheart, so you're covering them in the flower stage. Yes, you'd definitely need to let in pollinators then!

We have a lot of problems with chipmunks as well (strawberries), although the cats seem to be keeping the chipmunk population down fairly well. I didn't realize that about squirrels and snakes! We usually remove snakes because the big ones are egg eaters.

Tomatoes are doing pretty well, although they could use a good soaking with natural rain. Watering them is okay, but not as effective as rain. We had our first fresh tomato Sunday on burgers! What a treat!

Leigh said...

Mama Pea, I'll have to look into the Agribon. The bags wouldn't work with our blueberries, so something else would definitely help. Cherries too! I'll definitely update on the bags in a future post. Sounds like you're in a real battle with the critters! May the gardeners win!

Maggie said...

Do you have net curtains in the US? Gardeners in the UK use old ones to cover blackcurrant bushes and so on against birds. if you could get hold of some at a charity (Goodwill?) shop you could make bags of whatever size you need, and cover rows with them too.

Ed said...

Deer are our biggest problem and they are much easier to keep out. Berries are probably the next thing and we usually just try to get our share before the birds get them all. This year the wild blackberry crop was so large that we were able to pick all that we cared to pick and leave the rest to the birds.

So far, the birds haven't bothered our cherry trees. Decades ago when I was a kid, they would always rob our cherry tree before we could get the cherries. One year mom bought a tree net to cover the entire tree. My brother and I spent an hour a day untangling birds from that net and setting them free. Mom never used that net again.

wyomingheart said...

Yes, we cover before blooms, and we put a slight pvc support around what we are protecting, like strawberries, so that the net is not resting on the plant. For those larger, like blueberries, we try to keep the nets off the tree, but with the high bush variety it will sometimes rest on the plant. When it does, some of the smaller birds can reach in through the netting and make off with the goods, lol ! I totally understand about the snake..egg issue. We are hoping they will depopulate the rodents and then move on, before we get chickens next year. ,) !

Leigh said...

Maggie, that's a good idea. Thanks!

Ed, sounds like you had a great year for blackberries! Good caution about the bird netting. I've never tried it, and now likely won't. I've had deer demolish parts of my garden too. This year, our neighbor put in an unfenced garden, so I suspect it will be more of a target for deer than ours will be!

Wyomingheart, I've heard that about the bird netting!. So far this year, I've gotten plenty of blueberries, which is a nice change from last year. Snakes will definitely help with the rodent problem, which is a plus for them.

Cockeyed Jo said...

Don't forget the leaves and flowers are medicinal too

Kris said...

Leigh, for $26 I got a bolt of the light weight floating row cover (50'x 6'). It allows 95% of light in. It is UV resistant, probably washable (but obviously rinsable). Harris Seeds has lots of floating row (spun and meshed) . You might want to check it out. You could make just about ANY size blossom bag you could want.

Kris said...

Link to Harris => row covers

Annie in Ocala said...

Here it's mainly the squirrels... an one pesky woodpecker that are pecks one or 2 holes in the fruit. The bb gun an cats help but still I provide much food for the wildlife. Right now I'm getting guavas daily an a few figs. The persimmon will begin to ripen in a couple weeks an then I will get plenty target practice... I have a pup... 1 year old catahoula that is learning to 'run the yard' each time we/he goes outside to chase the critters an hoping that helps this year's persimmon harvest.

daisy g said...

I hope that solves your problem. Keep us posted.

This was the first year since I’ve been growing sunflowers that squirrels actually climbed the stalks to get the seeds. They are relentless! Next year, I may try covering the heads before they get too tall.

Have a great week!

Ann said...

The birds will eat every last berry if we let them. I made row covers from chicken wire and 1/2" emt conduit that keeps them out nicely. We bought an emt bender that makes handy 3' diameter hoops. I'd post you a picture but I don't know how. The first year we tried that black bird netting but killed one snake and barely managed to rescue another. Wildlife definitely gets tangled in that stuff.

Ann said...

And, since I'm logged in, I've used similar net bags in the garden. I put them over seed heads on my coriander so that the seed can ripen nicely but I don't lose it to the ground or to birds.

Toirdhealbheach Beucail said...

What a good idea Leigh! I will have to try this on my sorghum (The birds strip it).

Leigh said...

Jo, at least the birds don't eat the flowers and leaves!

Kris, thanks! That sounds like the best solution.

Annie, wow, persimmons and guavas. My figs should be ready sometime next month. I "share" the figs with birds too, they take a peck out of each fig and I get the rest. Good idea for a job for your dog!

Daisy, squirrels! They can really make the moves, and they do love sunflower seeds. Maybe your sunflowers each need a collar!

Ann, the chicken wire sounds like a good idea. And I'm glad to hear the net bags worked well for you!

TB, sorghum would be a very good use for them.

Retired Knitter said...

Never occurred to me to use individual bags. My son has "wine berries" whatever that is, and he is thinking of netting full bushes!

Leigh said...

RT, netting entire bushes would probably be easier, but from reading through the comments folks have left here, it seems they aren't very effective and cause problems for wildlife. He might do better with individual bags. I can say that sofar, birds haven't been devouring my berries!

Rain said...

Oh look at those! How ingenious, I hope they work! So far, the critters haven't been near my garden, but then they have the blueberry fields across the road to snack on, so my little raised beds seem unappetizing so far! :)

Leigh said...

Rain, the critter aren't on to you yet. :) Let's hope it stays that way!

www.self-sufficientsam.blogspot.com said...

I can only handle one critter problem at a time! LOL! This year I planted bush beans in my old horse trough and the deer started munching on them so I had some old netting that I used to put over our fruit trees on the farm so I used that. So far so good...but we'll see! I hope you get some of your berries...it should work well.

Leigh said...

Sam, deer can be a huge problem, and not that easy to deal with! I hope your netting saves your beans!

Woolly Bits said...

for us it's usually birds as we have no squirrels, deer etc. here. it's more a problem with pollination - we often have only a few berries on each elderberry cluster, so I just leave them as is - putting bags over would not make much sense. there's a difference between the wild trees and some named varieties though, the latter carry more berries by far. I am the only one, who likes elder here anyway, so I usually get enough for a bit of jelly and soup:) and where available I try to trick the birds with white ripening fruit, strawberries and white currants are great and so are yellow raspberries! unfortunately slugs go more by scent than colour - they still get to some of the white alpine strawbs I grow;)
the one thing that we usually have in abundance (unless it's an extremely hot/dry year - very rare - or a very wet summer) are blackberries - I could never pick them all because there are so many! the birds are welcome for their share - if only the magpies didn't leave purple..... "streaks" on my washing!