[zestymordant]

I'm about to sow an onion set and have read that it's a good idea to have netting over the top to prevent birds from taking the onions. I have the netting now. Is it okay for the netting to touch the onions or does it have to be raised, and how can I secure the netting in place?

Thanks

[m1ckz]

you really mean  1 onion set  lol

[m1ckz]

i use the old wire coathanger cut uo an bent over on mine

[mumofstig]

It only has to be there until you can see a bit og green, by then they'll be well rooted and the birds cant pull them out. I put a few old bricks or big stones at the edge, just to stop the net blowing away 

[DD.]

I go against what the books say and completed bury the bulb, (only just).

Don't get a problem with birds and it saves another bit of netting.

[zestymordant]

Cheers all.

I think I'll go with the bricks idea, mainly because I forgot I have about 50 loose bricks on the site... 

[andyw]

Is the netting supposed to go down as soon as you sow the seeds?  Mine were sown on Sunday without any!!  But have the netting in the shed ready.

[JayG]

Do you mean seeds or sets?

It's onion sets which can get pulled out by birds, and if this is going to happen it will be for a few weeks after they are planted (i.e. until they are firmly rooted enough to resist such bad behaviour!)

[allot2learn]

I use plastic milk bottles filled with water for holding down netting and fleece. The rounded edges don't tear the material.

[zestymordant]

That is a good idea.

[Trillium]

Is the netting supposed to go down as soon as you sow the seeds?  Mine were sown on Sunday without any!!  But have the netting in the shed ready.

Its a good idea to put the netting down soon as you can so that you either don't forget to do it, or the birds beat you to it. There's already enough to do at this time of year and its too easy to forget this bit.

[mumofstig]

Last year I sowed my peas on the 'lotment realised I'd forgotten to take the netting with me. Walked home literally round the corner, went straight back and put it on.
When they germinated it was obvious that in that short while the birds had had a lot of the peas 

This year I had the netting to cover straight away 

[azubah]

sure it was not mice to blame?

[upert]

I'd think mice wouldn't be too concerned about the netting.

[arugula]

We've recently discussed the differences between bird and mouse attacks:

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=90853.msg1010400#msg1010400