Someone once reported using tulle to wrap trees on the Nafex forum. They were in an area of serious pest pressure and the bugs still got in.

Around here, I've heard of people using tulle to prevent birds from getting at blueberry bushes. -Glenn

I bought some to protect squashes and cukes recently and I am very pleased. It is 6ft wide and costs $0.50/yard at Walmart.
It is definitely effective against birds and rabbits too, but I suspect squirrels will get through.

Let me know how that works.....it's been a while since I used bridal tulle on some people's properties....I didn't notice a significant problem but a couple times the people thought it was heating the tree up a little too much.
Also, tulle is not as strong as mosquito netting and may tear before the season is over.

I know it can work against most pests and the trees do well......personally, I think the future for the urban grower is container fruit with nets that can be put over them....but hey, what do I know?

Let us know how it works......(and by the way, my grower friend who uses GF 120 NF says it can kind of wash away in the rain, so maybe you could shelter that gooey stuff somehow from the rain for longer lasting protection.)

I've got more bugs and pests and rats and rabbits then the rest of you guys combined. Where do i find this stuff!? I've been contemplating DDT/Napalm/Lead Arsenate or just using the chainsaw and growing carrots.

On a serious note, i have known someone to use this. Only problems he faced were tearing and wasn't sure how the sun would treat it. I need to do something, because without hard core pesticides, i'm not growing tree fruit. Its that bad here.

Well, it's worked effectively against the tiny sized fruit flies. Olpea, there is always better living through chemistry, I realize that. But for those of us interested in worry free fruit, the tule seems to work. It can tear, but so far, so good.

Bugs did get in last year when I used but that's because I didn't wrap it around the trunks. THis year, I wrapped it tight and it's keeping the bugs out.

Frank, for you I'd suggest window screen material and a wooden frame! :) Actually, I do know of some growers who have done this, and they seem quite happy with it.

How do you find it big enough? Isn't it 48" wide? Does it come 72"? I'd probably check on Ebay. As for the cost, figure out what you spend on pesticides. I betcha it's a lot cheaper!

I may try on my figs. I have bird netting for the vineyard. I would like a nice shade of green so the plants don't look like they are getting married.

Suzi

Axel, I have heard similar positive reports with the lightest rowcover put on in a similar fashion. Out here the rowcover is not viable because it will reduce the airflow and make the tree a diseased mess. The tule will also reduce the airflow so my guess is I could not use it on my disease-prone cherries, but its an idea that sounds like it will work well in drier climates. The anti-crack aspect is very interesting as well.

Every year I prune my trees more and more open because I notice how the diseased bits I find are always in the shade. Yesterday I cut off a big black knot on a plum .. in a very shady spot. Sun and airflow are critical in my hot muggy climate.

Scott

Around here it won't last in the wind. And I'd think it would have to come in much wider pieces to cover very much.

When a similar idea was posted recently everybody was dumping on it because they said it would get too hot in there. Axel doesn't have that problem as he's mostly in the 70s all summer long.

I'm certainly not against protected culture. But in the long run I'd think it cheaper to build a frame and cover it with something that lasts longer. I once had a hail/bird shelter about 500 sq ft and 9 ft tall. It worked great and I loved it.

I wonder if you could wrap it like a taco? Start at the bottom and just wrap the tree to the top? On a small tree like a sour cherry, it might work good. Even my sweet cherries on Gisela are very small... My plums would be impossible, as would my peaches.

I like your idea of putting a veil over the whole tree to keep bug pests out. I am getting exhausted from putting bags on my apples. I get a lot of sun scald on the apples when the summer days get hot.

Actually, while some of the "organic" movement is kind of far-fetched, the truth is that some of the sprays and lures are actually getting smarter and working better for the growers with the smart new technology of some of these new organic products.....

but making these organic products work for the backyard person in an urban setting who probably lives in an area beset by high bug populations.....ahh....that is the challenge.....I need to pay more attention to "harvestman" and how he seems to make it work.

Bagging is indeed tedious, but at least makes sure that SOME apples are protected....which is better than none.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6jpga4_fV8

I hope to hear more from those who can net the whole tree effectively.

I used this method for black current last year. Made bags out off tulle, put on bushes and tied at the base. It helped, but don't think that this will help against rats and mise. Last year i put much stronger plastic net around blueberry bush and mouse or rat made holes in net to enjoy my blueberry.
I will try to cover my raspberries this year (I had WSD last fall), but they are still flowering and need to be polunated.

Briergardener, get a Rat Zapper (Amazon, etc.) and place it next to your bushes under a plastic container. It wiped out my garden rat problem in a few weeks. I'm tempted to lash one to one of my peach trees and see if it works on squirrels.

djofnelson,

You have me curious about the rat zapper. I've had a few minor vole problems and wonder if it would work on them?

I've tried mouse traps, and they work OK, but many times, they seem to set the traps off without getting caught.

A few questions please:

Why do you place the rat zapper under a plastic container? Is it because it can't take the rain?

Do you think it would work covered in snow?

How long have the batteries lasted for you? I've read some reviews that the batteries don't last long.

Lastly, is there any reason it wouldn't work on an incline? A lot of my trees are in mounds, and that's where voles make their holes.

Thanks

Olpea,

It can't take direct rain and if moisture gets on the electrical contact plates inside it shuts off. Unless it gets tripped beforehand or the batteries are dead, if the rodent gets to the bait, they are toast. To protect it, you can buy a "nest" (basically a $5 tupperwear container with a hole cut in it) or make one. I'm guessing it would take a lot of retrofitting to make it work in snow and you'd need to be able to remove it and dump for each kill, but it could work (freezing temps might cause problems). You'd need the tail attachment (a LED on a wire) so you could remotely observe that it needed to be emptied (or needed to be cleaned/dried). I bought the Ultra version that is supposed to have much longer battery life due to an improved infrared sensor that supposedly gives you much longer standby time. It also has a bigger chamber that could easily accommodate a very large rat or squirrel. It should work fine on an incline if the entrance was on the downhill side so the bait didn't roll out and water didn't flow in.

Here is a link that might be useful: RZ ultra on amazon

Olpea,

It can't take direct rain and if moisture gets on the electrical contact plates inside it shuts off. Unless it gets tripped beforehand or the batteries are dead, if the rodent gets to the bait, they are toast. To protect it, you can buy a "nest" (basically a $5 tupperwear container with a hole cut in it) or make one. I'm guessing it would take a lot of retrofitting to make it work in snow and you'd need to be able to remove it and dump for each kill, but it could work (freezing temps might cause problems). You'd need the tail attachment (a LED on a wire) so you could remotely observe that it needed to be emptied (or needed to be cleaned/dried). I bought the Ultra version that is supposed to have much longer battery life due to an improved infrared sensor that supposedly gives you much longer standby time. It also has a bigger chamber that could easily accommodate a very large rat or squirrel. It should work fine on an incline if the entrance was on the downhill side so the bait didn't roll out and water didn't flow in.

Here is a link that might be useful: RZ ultra on amazon

Thanks djofnelson.

anybody tried this method with berry plants?

i got some black, blue and strawberries that got lil critters that are destroying some fruits...

I've been looking for a material like Tule for a while. I was able to find a product called a Kootenay Cover that is apparently made out of a patented fabric design specifically for covering an entire fruit tree to keep out pests, but it seems fairly expensive. The Tule sounds like it may be a cheaper option.

Your trees must be very small and short. How can I do that around 30 feet tree. It is impossible. I spray Surround which proven 100% effective against cuddling moth, Apple Maggot Asian Moth, Japanese Beatles, Plum curculio, stink pugs and Gypsy Moth. The only problem with Surround is you have to spray every week and after every rain, I use the net you described to hide my Blueberry from the Birds. I have to bag the grapes to protect it from the wasps and Birds. Who said life is easy!!!!

Foolish, I think 100% is a bit of a stretch. You may get other peoples hope up too far. It isn't even affective enough for commercial production here. Seems to work well enough in the home orchard though.

I sure agree with you that it would be hard to cover a real tree with 6' wide strips and with others that it will probably be problematic even if they started making it 30' wide as is the bird netting I use.

Still, great to hear from you Axel, and I hope you have the same endorsement for this stuff after you've tested it for a few more years. There's some awfully nasty bugs on the horizon and I may one day have to go into bush culture myself so I can keep trees covered.

I wonder if this would work to cover my grape trellis against birds. Maybe even against Japanese beetles. Two sheets sewn together and whip stitched at the bottom should cover it as long as it allows sunlight to sweeten things up.

For birds, jap beetles, stink bugs and the like I'd build a frame over the orchard and cover it with 30% woven polypropylene shade cloth. It's as cheap as anything considering how long it lasts. This is surely what I'd be thinking about for this new stink bug.

I have used netting before(tuling)it works great for small trees or plants. It isn't very wide but if you sitch it together it will be wide enough to cover a small tree or just the fruit. I also used clothes pins to attach it.
It will do ok in the wind and can be washed after the season. The sun did not rot it the first 2 years but after that it started to get holes in it. But it was very cheap and solved many problems. I still sprayed but not as much.

Ok Harvestman
You are right Surround my not be 100 % effective against every insect. But I am so happy I conquered the Cuddling Moth, Apple maggot and Asian Moth with it. I almost gave up on Apple, bears and Beaches. I sprayed all kind of toxic sprays on these insects and never worked. Every Year I had to spend countless number of hours collecting rotten Apples, Bears and beaches from under my trees. Last year I discovered Surround and really helped me. Finally I was able to taste a golden delicious Apple and a juicy sweet Georgia beach. The electric stinger worked Ok for the Japanese beatles I kill at least 1000 every night. The only chor I hate is cleaning the stingers.

Foolish, I'm glad it worked so well for you. Surround tends to get mixed reviews but I agree that it is a useful tool. The fact that you didn't get protection from synthetic insecticides may have more to do with timing than their lack of efficacy. Synthetics generally control pests with fewer sprays and less difficulty than organic methods or we'd all be going organic and there'd be a significant industry in organic fruit production in the humid parts of the U.S. It is much harder for me to control CM and PC with Surround than with Imidan.

Since I posted this originally, I figured I'd share my results with the fabric so far. It's mixed, some good, some not so good. I posted a summary of this on the Cloudforest. See Tule writeup on www.cloudforest.com/cafe/..

I'd love to get some feedback from anyone else who's used this stuff. Cherry season i almost upon us so I need to start looking to buy some more of this stuff.

axel,

I purchased footies, cotton bags and tule bags to see which was most effective bagging peaches,apples, grapes, etc. While tule bags were 3X the cost of cheaper alternatives they proved to be the most effective as you could draw the synthetic drawstring tight around the fruit stem, the fabric was easy to see through so you could watch the fruit ripening, it prevented bug/bird/squirrel attacks and the bag was easiest to remove at harvest and seemed to be in the best shape for multiple reuses in future years. When you look at all the time and money invested in the land, plants, sprays, soil, pruning, watering , etc.to grow fruit, to me the cost of tule is miniscule.

I have seen a 4 quadrant piece clam shell like aluminum tube frame device with tule type netting that covers a dwarf peach tree from the trunk near the ground to above the tree top. Not sure where it was purchased, but it seemed to keep all pests out except human trespassers!

I wouldn't assume it will protect against squirrels. I've seen them go through monofilament and the much stronger woven netting I use when they get hungry. In Texas, they've got squirrels that I'm told are capable of chewing through chicken wire, although that's just hearsay. Anything that routinely eats through hickory shells can handle any non-metal netting material I've been able to find. You may trick them for a season but I bet they figure it out.

I have found that tule is helping against insects, not squirrels or rats.
I use it on black current against gooseberry fly, but i did not find a way for the raspberry because these bushes are flowering and setting fruits at the same time and need pollunation.
Any ideas how to fight SWD on raspberry?

I use netting on my vegetables & it works far better than row covers that critters punch holes in. Will try it on the fruit trees come Spring--the smaller ones.