Pigeons eating my pepper plants

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peterwicker
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I sowed seeds for sweet and chilli peppers back in February and have lovingly nurtured them for the last three months. June arrived and with the promise of no further frosts I duly planted out eighteen fit and healthy plants onto my allotment. Two days later the pigeons had decimated them. They have never touched my peppers before and I usually get excellent crops from my outside plants.

Pigeons are becoming a desperate problem on our site. Brassicas are always netted of course but now we also have to net peas, runner beans, french beans, borlotti beans, beetroot, spinach, lettuce, radishes. Almost everything bar potatoes, onions and squashes.

Is there any solution other than putting a huge net over the whole plot?
Elmigo
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Now I know that pigeons are cheeky so I'm not sure about them, but these tiny toy windmills are good at keeping most birds away from the garden. Especially when they are made of reflecting and shiny stuff, birds don't like that. The same goes for those flashy CD discs. It's not the most beautiful solution for your garden plot unless you like this stuff but it does the trick most of the times. The windmill toys are very cheap too! Maybe £ 3,00 for 10 of those as it's € 3,50 where I live.

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Primrose
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Peter,
If you have any pepper plants worth saving it might be better to pot them up in reasonable size pots and keep them at home in a sunny position close to the house if you have such a location. I,ve never known pigeons have a go at pepper foliage before but it seems they will pretty decimate anything.and allotments are usually unattended much of the time somthe birds get a free run.

A garden centre near us which stores their vegetable plants under a glass canopy but with open sides has had many of their vegetable trays decimated by early rising pigeons. They had huge sheets of fleece over the surviving plants when we visited on Sunday somits onviously a common problem. I guess the only solution is to net everything which is a pain.
robo
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We are having to net everything this year we are overrun with pigeons and pheasants due to one idiot feeding them the problem is his house backs on to his plot so we can't complain as the feed is in his garden
Westi
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The birds are eating my strawberries for the first time this year - well not eating but nipping them off so I have had to net them for the first time ever. We don't seem to have many pigeons more blackbirds & they are cheeky & interested. I agree the windmill type things can help, but in the past I have just cut up plastic supermarket bags into strips & secured them to canes of different lengths popped into the bed for a cheaper option. We are at the back of the site so close to the framers field but on my nosey walk around I noted many of the plots in the front row had a DIY frame of netting over their whole plots so asked why & they said pigeons! It might be an option to save your harvest peter - think of it as a long time investment & believe me they didn't look like a lot was spent on the posts & lots of different methods of joining the netting to cover them! Personally preferred the plastic coated wire knitting to the cable ties but whatever works.

Robo! You could chat to the feeder about moving the feeding station to the front of their house - still a win/win! He probably thinks he is helping wildlife which he is but might not understand the impact on crops! Or like Peter be handy with building a full cover for the plot!
Westi
robo
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Hi westi, he got shut of his pigeons around a year ago I think it might have been a complaint to the council that caused it his pigeon lofts were rat ridden filthy places, he is one of them people who will not listen to anyone he knows what he is doing he just douse it on purpose
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Geoff
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We get pigeons in the garden cleaning up round the bottom of the bed feeders but they don't damage to veg. My vegetable area is almost surrounded by 7' high windbreaks and all the brassicas are in anti-butterfly cages so the area is broken up by barriers. I've heard somewhere they feel insecure if they haven't got a clear path for take off so maybe you don't have to net everything just have barriers, a bit like the (dubious?) carrot root fly idea.
Westi
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Bad Luck Robo!

Some individuals you can have a conversation with & some you are just wasting your breath. No that the problem can't be fixed; but not easily or cheaply & the onus is entirely on you to cough up & fix it the best you can. He's not going anywhere soon so I expect you may have to goggle best options (or your preferred search engine - I can be so PC)! :)
Westi
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