Habitat - How Should You Manage it for Your Dollar?

One constant in animal damage control is habitat.  I realize that this may sound oversimplified; however, it is often overlooked. 

Earlier in the week I received a phone call from a person at the County Ag Commissioner’s office.  They are currently doing a study on bird damage.  What they wanted to know was whether trapping was a viable option for bird control.  This question is now being emphasized by growers because they do not have access to chemicals any longer for lethal bird control and trapping is the only option. Our conclusion in this conversation was that the habitat afforded by the growers crop or surroundings was the biggest key in the whole equation.

So, how do you manage habitat best for your dollar?  Well, the first thing that comes to mind is a sort of “scorched earth” policy.  If you don’t have any trees or vegetated creek bottoms then you won’t have any animal damage problems, right?  It is important to step back for a moment and look at the big picture.

If you adopted the aforementioned “scorched earth” policy your crop would be the only game in town for habitat.  You could actually make your problem worse.  In most cases the best approach to take is an overall habitat management program.  Let’s look at the most common factors in habitat management.

Weed control (perimeter and in the vineyard)

Vine canopy management

Trees (on your property and surrounding it)

Power and telephone lines (this is habitat to starlings and blackbirds)

Irrigation practices

Creek and river bottoms

Geographical landscape of your vineyard

Vineyard surroundings

Weed control is important.  Birds need seeds, insects, and water in addition to your grapes.  Gophers, ground squirrels and rabbits rely on different varieties of grasses for food and cover.  If you find it necessary to cultivate different grasses in your vineyard for soil management and erosion control then you should also anticipate the presence of some of these critters.  It won’t break you, but you need to take it into consideration when weighing the pro’s and con’s of that type of management.

Vine canopy management and it’s effect on grapes is a topic that I am not very qualified to discuss.  However, I have seen and can recognize the importance of different pruning techniques.  My only comment is the less cover you offer, the easier it will be for you to see what is causing problems for you.  Again, this approach needs to be weighed with the overall management practice.

Trees on your property are nice.  Birds love them.  I like trees too, and I know that whenever I am setting up a bird management program for a grower, that’s the first thing I look for.  You will always find birds in your trees.  It actually works to your advantage at times as you know when the starlings or cedar waxwings are arriving because you can see them staging in the trees in your vineyard.  Keep in mind that if you are netting or using hazing techniques you should focus on those trees - the birds always do.

Power and telephone lines are starling favorites.  Obviously you can’t remove them from your vineyard.  However, you can plan around them and use them as an indicator of your bird problems.  They can also be a blessing in disguise since raptors use them for perches.  No vineyard pest that we’ve identified here likes to have a Cooper’s hawk looking down on it from a power pole.  Remember to watch your power lines and plan on the fact that they will attract birds to your area.  If you are using propane cannons or some other noise making device, make sure the birds on those wires will be affected by them.

Irrigation practices are often overlooked when it comes to pest control.  Overhead irrigation risers make netting off your vines very difficult.  Drip irrigation is nice, but rabbits and coyotes love to chew the lines and emitters.  Ground squirrels rely on them as a source of water.  Flood irrigation eliminates most gopher problems but encourages robins to investigate and use your vineyard as a feeding ground.  If I had to pick one type of irrigation to recommend I would pick drip because it is the easiest system to work around when considering control programs.  Again, look at the big picture, and make the necessary adjustments.

Creek and river bottoms, the geographical landscape of your vineyard and your vineyards surroundings are all basically the same thing.  All are factors, out of your control that can be refuges to pest species.  You cannot usually eliminate them so you must learn to deal with them.  Again, address your vineyard from an “If I were a bird, where would I be?” type of mentality.  A lot of times you’ll be looking at the neighbors orchard and realizing for the first time where all those jays are coming from.  These areas do have their advantages as well.  If an animal has good cover to go to it is pretty easy to persuade it to go there and stay there.  If your crop is protected well enough, you may still see your birds or squirrels “over there” but you’ll not be suffering any damage from them.  That’s O.K. - everyone loves wildlife, right?

Another thing that bears brief discussion is the placement of brushpiles on your property.  If you have an orchard or, heaven forbid, a large number of diseased vines you’ve removed and piled up on your property, you have just created a mini wildlife sanctuary.  As long as it stays you’ll have all the rabbits, squirrels, quail and other possible trouble makers you could ask for.  Get rid of it as soon as possible.  If your neighbor has them, see what you can work out with them to get rid of it.  Sometimes just pointing out what is going on is enough.  Having said all of this I realize that once again we’ve covered a lot of ground but not offered anyquick and easy solutions.  Well there’s a reason for that. I think you know what it is.