Cockatoos destroying citrus trees

[martin1]

We lost our entire first crop of lemons and mandarin from dwarf trees in a 10 minute raid by cockatoos. Not only the fruit, but most of the branch structure was decimated. I am wondering if tree netting will stop cockatoos next time they fruit or will the birds eat through this too?

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Workshop community @martin1. Many thanks for your question, I'd be happy to assist with it.

I'm sorry to hear about your lemon crop, I'm having the same issue here with my oranges. I'm sure our helpful community members will have some great suggestions of what they use for their own fruiting trees.

The addition of bird netting will go a long way towards reducing the loss of fruit and branch structure by cockatoos. Birds don't particularly like landing on the netting so you might find it does the trick. Please have a look at the Diamond Econetting 4m x 4m x 5mm White Crop Protection Cover, it has considerably smaller holes than the standard bird netting discouraging them even further. With the crop protection, they'll find it hard to access the fruit and branches entirely.

If you need further assistance or had other questions, please let me know.

Mitchell