Country Lore: Keeping Birds Away With Tulle

Readers' tips on how to make goat's milk soap, deter birds from blueberry bushes with tulle, spot broody hens, and more.

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by Jennifer Dehoff

Tulle as a Tool for Blueberry Bushes

We’ve tried conventional netting to keep birds from eating our blueberries, but the birds can still get to the fruit unless we build cages to keep the netting off the brambles.

My mom gave me a roll of tulle (fabric for bridal veils) to cover cabbage and broccoli plants, thereby preventing cabbage months from laying eggs that later hatched as cabbage worms. I cut the tulle into 8-foot lengths to make it more manageable. Then I realized the tulle could help with blueberries as well.

I wrapped each blueberry bush with a piece of tulle and secured the fabric to the branches with clothespins, bunching and overlapping it where necessary, and tucking and pinning the edges against the trunk. It worked great! The tulle allowed sun, rain, and air to pass through but kept out the birds. It also blocked Japanese beetles. Berry harvest was easy: I undid the clothespins where I needed to reach in and then clipped them back in place when finished. Later, I used the same tulle to protect our raspberries.

I’m amazed at how many growing seasons this fine mesh fabric has withstood. When not in use, I store it in a tote in the shed.

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