Bird LifeFood Plants - Perennial

A Tip for the Strawberry Patch

An easy trick for saving your strawberries from birds!

by Mari Korhonen

Here’s a little tip I learned last summer from a friend for saving your strawberries from getting munched by birds:

Early in the season, before the strawberries start turning red, pick some little strawberry-sized stones and paint them red. When you scatter these fake strawberries along your berry patch, the curious and hungry birds come to check them out with a feast on their mind. But once encountering these fairly boring imposter berries they soon lose their interest and leave the patch alone — even after the real ones start to ripen….

It’s also fun to do with kids, parents, grandparents, friends… anyone!

7 Comments

  1. Quite creative with stragety, I’ve considered growing strawberries next year in my perma-patch.

  2. Good idea! I will try it out.
    BUT will it stop the Red Bellied Black snakes and skinks from liking my strawberries?
    Yes, I have observed them dinning in.

  3. This tactic can work for other fruits also – artificial red apples hanging in the tree, etc.

  4. I have just about given up using vinyl bird netting to deter birds. It entangles beneficial snakes that eat rodents. These snakes then die if I do not find them soon enough.

  5. I thought I would try this in the backyard for our Pepino melon’s and found it worked wonderfully. Definitely funny watching the Butcher birds scrounging and trying to peck at the stones, they soon gave up. Thank you for posting.

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