Up Your Wildlife Exclusion Game Now To Protect Vineyards
October 15, 2024 
Virginia vineyards grow delicious grapes. Unfortunately, small animals, such as racoons and birds, know how delicious these grapes taste. Wine grape vineyards in Virginia are challenged with small animals eating grapes as the grapes approach harvest maturity. Many of our vineyards are adjacent to forested land with a large population of wild animals.
New vineyards in Virginia generally have a deer exclusion fence surrounding the vineyard to keep out deer. Over the past decade, more vineyards have started using side netting on VSP-trained vines.
Here are a couple tricks that go above and beyond the deer fence and side netting:
FIXED WIRE FOR VINE SIDE NETTING
Adding a wire makes a fixed connection of the two side nets at the bottom. The side nets can be bound to the wire with hog ring staples or some other clips. As a bonus the wire provides a place to bind the netting when not in use.
A high tensile wire is used to bind the bottom of the side netting with hog ring staples.
Photo courtesy of Tremain Hatch
ELECTRIC MESH FOR SMALL CRITTERS
Racoons can feel impossible to keep out of vineyards. Some growers use electric mesh to help keep racoons excluded from the vineyard perimeters. These are generally used at hotspots near wood lines, etc.
Electric Mesh applied in conjunction with a black plastic mesh deer fence.
Photo Courtesy of Dean Tripplett, Greenstone Vineyards
FRUIT PROTECTION BAGS
Virginia Tech Grape Pathologist Dr. Mizuho Nita introduced us to these bags, not only to keep rain away from grapes and reduce rot pressure but also to provide an excellent exclusion for birds and critters. They do cost a couple of cents apiece, and there is a substantial labor requirement to apply these bags. However, they work great!
Close-up of fruit protection bag.
Photo courtesy of Tremain Hatch
High wire trained table grape vine with fruit protection bags.
Photo courtesy of Tremain Hatch
There is no silver bullet to exclude pests away from our grapes, but growers have a toolbox of different strategies that they can use based upon their pest pressure and goals.
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