Birds eating my new grass seed

[JohnnyB60]

I had read Sharon Maries thread “How to Deter Birds from Eating Grass Lawn Seed?â€

[rainbowgardener]

Nope, scarecrow will not scare crows (and other birds) for more than about 15 min. After that they realize that it isn't moving and pretty soon they will be perching on it.

[img]https://fatfinch.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/zeus.jpg[/img]

Better is to hang tin foil pie pans so they move in the wind and preferably bang against each other a bit.

I just planted some grass seed. I covered it with a thin layer of potting soil and then stepped on it, to be sure the seed is in contact with the soil and well covered, watered it in. I haven't seen any birds near it.

[JohnnyB60]

Thanks! It’s only been about 3 days and I don’t know how long it takes to show any green. I planted a lawn by seed 15 years ago and it came out really good, but I can’t remember what time of year it was.

I don’t know that I will do this again and I will probably go with sod the next time. It would have cost $500 delivered, but I work 10 hr days and it was going to be an issue doing it on weekends because they are booked up on Fridays. Now I may have to do it anyway if this doesn’t come up soon.

[rainbowgardener]

Patience! Your seed bag should give you an estimate of days to germination. It can be anywhere from a week to three weeks depending on the variety of grass and on conditions, temperature, water, etc. Don't let your seed dry out while you are waiting.

[JohnnyB60]

Patience! Your seed bag should give you an estimate of days to germination. .

Oh geez, I must be getting stupid. It never occurred to me to read the bag. LOL
Thanks!

[JohnnyB60]

Ok I know this isn’t supposed to work, but I was desperate. It turned out we had the 3 spooks for Halloween and they had noise clunkers on them. So I hooked one on to a desert willow branch and the other 2 on long flexible sticks so that they move around and clang. I have not seen a bird all day. Now I don’t know if they will eventually figure it out, but the wind has been blowing and the spooks are really moving around.
[img]https://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh176/SleeperN06/Gardening/Spooksonpatrol1.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh176/SleeperN06/Gardening/Spooksonpatrol.jpg[/img]

[applestar]

Putting up Halloween decorations and saving the garden -- check and check!

[rainbowgardener]

Very creative! As long as they keep blowing around and making noise, the birds will not get used to them. The trouble with regular scarecrows is they just sit there and don't move or make noise.

[JohnnyB60]

I wasn’t so lucky this morning because it was dead still and the birds were out at first light. I cut some long shoots off of some banks roses and added a thick piece of stiff steel wire for strength to give it a little spring. They were moving around like they were floating with just a very small breeze. As the breeze picked up they were really moving around and I don’t know what’s going to happen if it really gets windy.

Here is a photo of them now. I had just watered and the one spook got a little wet so it’s dragging on the ground right now, but should dry out shortly. It’s getting late and will be dark soon so I couldn’t wait for it to dry and have a photo tonight. I may have to add another shoot for when it gets wet

[img]https://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh176/SleeperN06/Gardening/IMG_0054.jpg[/img]

I also found a small motor that flip flops back and forth and I’m thinking about attaching a string to it and running out to each spook. I don't remember what it originally was for, but it turned out to be a 12 volt DC motor so I need to buy an AC adapter to get it working.