General description
Many growers across the country take advantage of the geese’s unusual trait of eating grass and certain plants with delight without paying attention to the blueberry or strawberry plants you are growing. Geese will eat grass and weeds along with plants that you could not hoe or till without damaging the roots of the plants.
Proper use of weeding geese can almost eliminate the need for hoeing and pulling up grass and weeds. This can go a long way toward replacing expensive labor.
Advantages
It is far from controlling weeds organically without the use of herbicides.
It replaces the costly manual labor of digging and pulling weeds.
It can be used to control problematic grasses and some weeds.
I will not eat your plants.
Geese will clean irrigation ditches and fence lines.
Disadvantages
Requires fencing them in the area and moving them to a new area as needed
It requires training them on which plants to eat while they are young and growing.
they are very messy
They are vegetarians. They will not eat insects. That can be a challenge in the blueberry patch, particularly for caterpillars that will eat the leaves of your plants…
Tendency of geese to compact the soil and cover it
How to use geese for weeding
Weeding geese (weeding geese) should be placed in fields early in the year, when grass and weeds are just beginning to grow. Under average circumstances, two to four geese per acre are sufficient in row plantings. Favorite geese for weeding are white Chinese geese. The nylon woven wire electric fence is quite successful and moves without difficulty. The fence should be three to four feet high.
Weeder geese tend to eat ripe berries. They can also damage some of the newly emerging blueberry canes, so the timing of their use should be adjusted accordingly.
Geese Uses for Weeding
Weeding geese have been used by strawberry growers for several years. Weeding Geese can also be used in blueberry fields. Flower growers use geese on chrysanthemums, roses, peonies, lilies, dahlias, gladioli and others. Geese have also been used by growers of mint and asparagus, onions, potatoes, tobacco, sugar beets, grapes, raspberries, and other small fruits.
field management
Young nestlings up to 8 weeks of age, if placed in the field, should be provided with shelter. They must also lock themselves in a shelter in case of rain and during the night. The nestlings can be put on the lawn in a few days. Some grain feed is required. The amount of grain required will generally be around 0.05 to 0.2 pounds per day per bird. The correct amount will be determined by experience. You don’t want to overfeed the geese, as you need to keep them with a good appetite to graze on the weeds and grasses. You need to make sure they stay strong and healthy.
Water containers should be placed at the ends of the row to encourage birds to graze across the field. In areas where additional grazing is needed, you can place the water containers near those spots. You should also provide some means of structure for the shading.
It is advisable to take the geese to an enclosed area at night to protect them from foxes, wild dogs or other predators.
Some insecticides are toxic to geese, so don’t use them while the geese are in the field and don’t put them back in the field for several days after spraying them with an insecticide. Fortunately, blueberries have few pests and diseases to deal with. The main problem can be the caterpillars. On blueberries, caterpillars can be a problem, but they can be controlled. Use 1 tablespoon of Basic H in an Ortho-type sprayer. Or use 1 scoop in a 16-ounce pump spray bottle. Spray caterpillars and watch them die in seconds. It is also good for blueberry bushes.