Dalen Bird-X Protective Mesh Netting for Fruit Trees & Berries - 28 x 28 ft

The product itself is five stars; this is your typical lightweight plastic bird netting. Two of the pictures show the size of the mesh. It will keep out birds and chipmunks from your fruits and berries. It is strong enough to do the job, but you can tear it up if you pull hard on it. If you drape it over vegetation, it will be hard to remove without tearing since things will grow into the mesh. If you are very careful about how you take it off and store it, it will last many seasons; we have similar netting that is over five years old but the stuff we mistreated was lucky to last 2 or 3 years. So if that is the netting product you need, it's five stars as far as the product goes. If you need something strong enough to use as ratlines on the side of a ship, or maybe your idea of taking it off is grabbing a corner and pulling, this is not what you need. More important than the product is how you intend to use it. If you don't plan ahead, this is a two star product and it will have you screaming in frustration. 1. Wear the right stuff when you use it. Anything with buttons, like a flannel shirt, is asking for trouble. Take off your watch. Make sure that your jeans cover the "speed lace" open eyelets at the top of your hiking boots. [all of those from prior experience] If your work gloves have adjustable cuffs with the leather thong, the ball at the end of that thong will wind up caught right when you are already in need of a third or fourth hand. 2. Mark it and keep track of where it is. This stuff turns invisible unless it is viewed against a light background and even then it's hard to see. Note in some of the photos that it's really hard to see. I mark it with masking tape and twist ties. The wind will gladly whip it around as well. 3. 28 feet might be bigger than you realize until you unfold it. You need to have a plan to get it put into place. It's about two cars by two cars in size. I thought I had enough driveway, but found out that I had half as much driveway as I needed. I re planned and it went OK. "And then 4 magic, floating, synchronized bucket trucks pick it up and drape it over my stuff" is not a viable plan. It comes as a 14 foot long roll. When you unroll it, it's 14 x 28 and still folded in half. [As others have pointed out, it's 2 28 x 14's sewn together. Mine had no sewing defects and the white line at the seam is a godsend.] 4. After you unfold it (or at least after you unroll it), you have to be able to carry it. You can't drag it over the yard or it will snag every twig and leaf and any plant that's not fresh cut grass. Even if you use two people, it's still a problem. I solved it by taping it to a 20' long fence top rail and rolling it like a carpet. The ends hung over, but it was manageable (and easily deployed later by unrolling it). [third and fourth picture] We have also used long lengths of 2x4 to hold up netting like this when placing it. 5. Use rocks and things to hold it down when unfolding it. It will never be more organized or easier to handle than when you first take it out of the package.[first picture] 6. Measure first and mark it. I used tape and twist ties to mark it. That way in the yard we lined up the tape with the posts, unrolled until we hit the twist ties, and in general knew if we had it properly placed. Our previous experience with similar netting is that it's real easy to get it put on wrong and it's next to impossible to adjust if you have it sitting on the plants. If you leave an opening on one side, the birds will find it. 7. Consider a framework to drape it on. If you need a net this big, you have something big to put it on. Putting it directly on the plant invites madness and words you don't want the young people repeating. [Those posts in the pictures are 2.5 inch fence posts driven so 8 feet is above ground. The rails are old chain link fence top rail. The posts are almost 8 feet apart. There's another blueberry bush you can't see outside the square.] 8. Have enough people and tools to place it. It was easy with 4 people and two ladders, the netting rolled on a top rail, and a framework to unroll it over. We used twist ties to anchor it and rocks around the bottom to keep the chipmunks out. No hard words were spoken and it didn't take long at all. I can't imagine single-handing this. 9. Leave enough so that it reaches the ground with netting to spare. I may be leaving something out. For us, with that plan and then the re-plan, it was the easiest bit of netting we have ever placed and also the largest by far. If all that sounds like way too much to fool with, save yourself the frustration and let the birds have your blueberries or whatever. It's a good, inexpensive product if you can use it. Screw up and it's a nightmare. We made really sure that no one tripped while working with this stuff; fall over inside one of these and you'll have to order another after you destroy it getting out.

What works BEST is if you cut it into smaller sections (7x14 for example) ALSO what Ive found EXTREMELY helpful: Since this netting is so light and thin, AND it sticks to everything... I used pieces of 1/2" PVC and zip ties - I spread out the smaller sections of netting and rolled ONE END around PVC (a few times around the PVC), then I used zip ties to tightly secure the netting to the PVC THEN, I could throw the netting over the tree by lobbing the end attached to PVC - this gave it weight and you can now throw it over the tree you want to protect. That is BASICALLY the approach Ive used and it works GREAT. I hope this technique/approach works for you as well because there is no way you can drape this netting over a tree, that just wont work. Save yourself some frustration and cut it into more manageable sizes and zip ties it to PVC - that works WONDERS - very easy to use using this technique - This bird netting works GREAT. There is no way a bird can get through it. Not a chance. The material feels / looks similar to fishing line. Only time will tell but it seems as though it is also pretty durable. The entire net is VERY light weight. Unfolding it in itself was difficult because it would snag on everything - 28ft x 28 ft. I unfolded it on my driveway which is asphalt and the netting snagged on the driveway itself, my clothing... everything. It is pretty difficult to unfold. It is even harder to drape it over a tree because it snags on everything, ANYTHING in its way (a leaf, your pants, a twig from a different tree, etc) it will snag on and you will not be able to drape it over the tree you are trying to protect. So you might have to do some clearing / peripheral tree trimming of other trees / vegetation in the way (FYI). But once it is in place, it works GREAT. I could not be happier with its performance. There is absolutely NO WAY ANY BIRD can get through it. It gets the job done 100%. Also, it is pretty much invisible / unnoticeable once it is up, you have to literally walk right up to it to notice it is there. So it doesnt ruin the "look" of your yard or tree you are using it on. If you need to protect a tree from birds, this will end your search. I used this net on an orange tree that was ravaged by birds, and it worked 100%. SWEET! Final comment: GREAT PRODUCT! Just a little (very) hard to use / set up.

We have a bumper crop of blackberries this year, but every time I went out to pick them I had to throw half away due to being pecked by birds. I put this netting directly over the berry bush and I have picked enough to finally make a pie! I do have a couple of suggestions: First, measure the space you need to cover. You can do this roughly but at least get some idea of the actual height and area. I ordered the 14X45 foot product and this is enough to last me for a few years for my blackberries, blueberries, and tomatoes! Second: Use something to support the net and don't put it directly on the plants, use fenceposts, pvc piping, etc. The way I have it, it keeps the birds off but grabs onto every branch making picking berries a real pain! Third: It is a lot easier to handle with two people. All in all I am happy with the product.

I use this net for my blueberry bushes. Without it the birds would get more berries then I do. My bushes have been in since 1999 and I just purchased my third net this year and plan to put it on tomorrow. In other words , two of these nets have lasted me a total of 16 years before the squirrels had chewed enough holes through the two nets that I had that I felt I needed to replace them to keep the birds out. Actually my son who has six young bushes in a small area is still using the nets for bird protection and they work fine for him because he has a smaller area to cover then I do. The squirrels chew through around the bottom of the net to get in and bury their acorns in the soft mulch. If it wasn't for them I would still be using the net that is now 16 yrs. old. I highly recommend this product for bird protection for your berry and fruit crops. Incidently , I built a frame over and around my bushes with PVC pipe so I can put the netting over it instead of putting the net directly on the bushes. I hold the net to the ground around the bottom with pressure treated 2X4 s .

Perfect for keeping the birds out of my bean plants! The material is sturdy and light. Easy to cut, stays put, and keeps the birds out.

This netting really works at keeping out unwanted pests. It is super clingy and can be hard to handle unless you have two people working together. I ordered two and threw them out because the netting also traps all animals if they get caught in it. I was able to rescue some but unfortunately found a dead turtle and bird tangled in the netting at different times despite many attempts to keep the netting wrapped tight. While I like the fact that it helped keep the deer off my tomatoes I cannot justify the continued use since other animals pay the price for it.

I am thrilled to have waited to write this review of this wonderful product. Our area experienced an intense hail storm that stripped the trees of leaves, rendered bushes nearly completely void of any foliage, and absolutely pummeled all flowers and vegetable gardens to the bare stem coming out of the ground. But not our outdoor gardening structure which we had put Bird-X on. The hail did not not get through to damage our veggies and it did not rip or tear either. Not one single plant had any damage whatsoever, and there is no roof or sides on the structure, it is open to the air, it just has Bird-X on it. We built it to be our outside garden that we can simply put plastic on in the Fall to extend our garden season, and protect its contents in the Summer from Birds and small animals, little did we know that we were protecting our garden from Hail too. We are thoroughly amazed at this wonderful product - Thank you Bird-X - you saved our garden.

product is excellent. very sturdy stuff. its a little hard to work with. my fingers kept getting tangled in the netting, but thats what its supposed to do! i used this on underside of carport. i had problems getting it "sealed" around the edges. sparrows kept worming their way under the edges. i used metal tape (actual venting duct tape) on sides after i attached it in different areas with zip ties. definitely a deterrent but i had to keep maintaining as the birds kept exposing the weak spots. after a few days i saw fewer and fewer birds. then i put up "scare tape" attached from corner to corner with a few twists an enough slack to get some good wind moevement. then attached a piece on each corner that was nly tied at one end and left flapping in the breeze. (see my other reviews). birds were then gone. took down tape and its been almost two weeks now with no birds

Really sturdy netting--will do the job for my purposes.

I made a netted stick frame around & over my 25x22 foot berry patch using 2"x2" sticks (2x4's ripped). About 6' in height so I can walk under it. Get 2 of these to cover a garden this size; it does keep the birds out. Have great strawberries and waiting for raspberries to come along.

es demasiado delgado, se rompre con la misma fuerza de los dedos de mi mano NO COMPREN

Worked great to keep the raccoons from digging my yard. Good value

Works very well, quick delivery