Strawberry protection options?

[Time Waster]

What's a good option to prevent birds and other pests enjoying our strawberries before we do?

Tried the sticks with fine mesh bodge last year and got very little crop. They just found ways in and out.

Looking at mesh tunnels with plastic or galv hoops 45x45cm in 3m lengths. Two would do our patch (runners really took over from just 2 or 3 plants in just one growing season). There's ones with separate hoops or hoops integrated into the mesh. Amazon Chinese ones through to Sutton seeds ones made in China but sold for a fiver more.

Any recommendations?

 

[Red17]

On our allotment we use either a fine mesh net or horticultural fleece. Both work ok for us

 

[Slick]

Debris netting designed for Scaffolding works a treat.

 

[annedonnelly]

I've got one of these with bird netting. My strawberries are actually in hanging baskets but I just drape the same netting over the baskets.

 

[Paulus]

I've got lengths of plastic water pipe cut into 10 foot sections. I push the ends into the ground and then I lay a net over the top, pegging it down along the edges and the ends. It looks a little like a small poly tunnel.

 

[Bazzer]

I have found the bodge of sticks and netting fails. Much better to build a dedicated frame and net it properly.
Our strawberries are in a raised bed, so each year it's just a matter of screwing the uprights to the sleepers and then fixing the horizontals. The sleepers have a permanent line of partly sunken screws for attaching the netting to.
You may find the black corded netting is better too. It much easier to see when setting up so you see gaps far better and IME it doesn't seem to catch on every tiny splinter, so is much easier to handle.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Debris netting designed for Scaffolding works a treat.

I've got lengths of plastic water pipe cut into 10 foot sections. I push the ends into the ground and then I lay a net over the top, pegging it down along the edges and the ends. It looks a little like a small poly tunnel.

That's what I use, but I put the pipes in bamboo sticks to hold them to the ground.
Mind to rescue the odd bee that gets trapped.

 

[OldShep]

The answer is to have lots of plants. I’ve so many the blackbirds take their fill and there are still more than enough for us. Shelves still have strawberry jam on them and still some in the freezer. They go really well with rhubarb.