The Ranger wrote:

sherwindu wrote in message
...
[..] It took a full day to put it up and another to take
it down.

It took you a full day to put up and take down netting? Why? It
shouldn't take more than 30-40 minutes with assistance from any
able-bodied adult.

I thought I made it clear that this was not a simple thing of throwing a
net over a tree. The frame had to be put together. It had to be erected
and guyed. The net had to be put into place. If you never did this before,
you probably can't appreciate the time involved.



I had a nice system though, using a vertical pole
extending above the tree top. On top of the pole
I had a horizontal 'X' crossbars with a wire around
the perimeter and plastic bottles at the ends to allow
the net to slip over it. Four guy wires held it up.

Why did you stop using this system? It actually sounds like it
would work a lot better than netting _and_ would be much easier to
put up and take down.

The additional benefits of covering the fruit to protect it from insects was
the determining factor. Squirrels became less of a problem and insects
more.



I have since gone to a different system of covering
my more valuable fruits with zip lock sandwich bags.
[..] also experimenting this year with nylon 'footsies',
[snip]

And you're concerned that the netting took a whole day? Putting
footsies or ziplocks over individual fruit is such an extremely
labor intensive job that the netting can't even come close to
being.

The Ranger

For one thing your glasses wouldn't get tangled up in footsies or
ziplocks.

My pussy thinks the netting is a toy and loves to get all tangled in
it while I was trying to put it up.

Just covered my fig. However I think it was raccoons that were
stealing my figs last year because it was something heavy enough to
break branches.

I had everything from birds to skunks get tangled up in the nets. It usually
requred cutting them out, which seriously damaged the nets. The nets I
used were heavy duty, not the light bird netting sold in many stores.
Nevertheless, I had to do yearly maintenance patching all the holes made
by animals and branches. The sun also had a deteriorating effect on the
nets, making them weaker from season to season.

Sherwin D.

sherwindu wrote in message
...
The Ranger wrote:
sherwindu wrote in message
...

[..] It took a full day to put it up and another to take
it down.

It took you a full day to put up and take down netting?
Why? It shouldn't take more than 30-40 minutes with
assistance from any able-bodied adult.

I thought I made it clear that this was not a simple thing
of throwing a net over a tree. The frame had to be put
together. It had to be erected and guyed. The net had
to be put into place. If you never did this before, you
probably can't appreciate the time involved.

I have, and do, put up a similarly intricate netting system but it
doesn't take more than 50 minutes on the first tree to get my
timing and base-knowledge back. I quickly cut the time down per
tree (five trees) after that.

I did try it by myself one year... That's why I now bribe either
BIL for assistance.

I had a nice system though, using a vertical pole
extending above the tree top. On top of the pole
I had a horizontal 'X' crossbars with a wire around
the perimeter and plastic bottles at the ends to allow
the net to slip over it. Four guy wires held it up.

Why did you stop using this system? It actually sounds
like it would work a lot better than netting _and_ would
be much easier to put up and take down.

The additional benefits of covering the fruit to protect it
from insects was the determining factor. Squirrels
became less of a problem and insects more.

Ah. Yeah, shiny googas and plastic noise-makers don't seem to
bother anything from the insect world.

The Ranger

"sherwindu" wrote in message
...

I thought I made it clear that this was not a simple thing of throwing a
net over a tree. The frame had to be put together. It had to be erected
and guyed. The net had to be put into place. If you never did this
before,
you probably can't appreciate the time involved.


After reading this thread I think I'll let the tree-rats have my pears.
I'll buy 'em at the store.

One question might be how big a net are you erecting? My nets were rather
large,
about 30 feet square. If you are putting up small nets, I agree it should not
take a
full day.

Sherwin

The Ranger wrote:

sherwindu wrote in message
...
The Ranger wrote:
sherwindu wrote in message
...

[..] It took a full day to put it up and another to take
it down.

It took you a full day to put up and take down netting?
Why? It shouldn't take more than 30-40 minutes with
assistance from any able-bodied adult.

I thought I made it clear that this was not a simple thing
of throwing a net over a tree. The frame had to be put
together. It had to be erected and guyed. The net had
to be put into place. If you never did this before, you
probably can't appreciate the time involved.

I have, and do, put up a similarly intricate netting system but it
doesn't take more than 50 minutes on the first tree to get my
timing and base-knowledge back. I quickly cut the time down per
tree (five trees) after that.

I did try it by myself one year... That's why I now bribe either
BIL for assistance.

I had a nice system though, using a vertical pole
extending above the tree top. On top of the pole
I had a horizontal 'X' crossbars with a wire around
the perimeter and plastic bottles at the ends to allow
the net to slip over it. Four guy wires held it up.

Why did you stop using this system? It actually sounds
like it would work a lot better than netting _and_ would
be much easier to put up and take down.

The additional benefits of covering the fruit to protect it
from insects was the determining factor. Squirrels
became less of a problem and insects more.

Ah. Yeah, shiny googas and plastic noise-makers don't seem to
bother anything from the insect world.

The Ranger

If you can tolerate the tasteless supermarket fruit, I guess you should not
bother
growing your own.

Sherwin

Manelli Family wrote:

"sherwindu" wrote in message
...

I thought I made it clear that this was not a simple thing of throwing a
net over a tree. The frame had to be put together. It had to be erected
and guyed. The net had to be put into place. If you never did this
before,
you probably can't appreciate the time involved.

After reading this thread I think I'll let the tree-rats have my pears.
I'll buy 'em at the store.

On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 06:28:08 -0700, "The Ranger"
wrote:

sherwindu wrote in message
OK, Ranger, what system do you use that allows you to spend only 50
minutes per tree?

Thanks, Dianna


...
The Ranger wrote:

I have, and do, put up a similarly intricate netting system but it
doesn't take more than 50 minutes on the first tree to get my
timing and base-knowledge back. I quickly cut the time down per
tree (five trees) after that.

I did try it by myself one year... That's why I now bribe either
BIL for assistance.


The Ranger

For the reasons you mentioned, and others, I gave up on me the whole network
Fruit Trees. It took a whole day and the other to take it down. I have a
NICE Systems. However, the use of vertical bars extending above the top of the tree. A horizontal 'X' bar around the perimeter wire and plastic bottles in After allowed to slide in its net. Four guy wires lifted it.

Only botheration is that limbs tend to abound during the year in my climate and again it's hell accepting the applique off after acid it up. Normally the applique will endure several years. I hit on the abstraction of just pruning off new advance that grows through the applique and it's working so far.