How do i keep birds from eating grass seed?

While beautiful and highly useful in controlling the insect pest population, birds also have a love for the taste of grass seed. The best plan of attack for landscapers is to utilize at least two of the methods detailed below simultaneously. Ideally, the use of flash tape in conjunction with either mulch or netting will yield the best results.

Anti-Bird Netting

Anti-bird netting is often made of durable polyethylene and is usually woven in a diamond mesh, with openings small enough to prevent birds from gaining easy access to seeds. The netting is sold in large rolls of varying widths at most garden supply stores. While laying these out on one's lawn is effective to a degree, anti-bird nets are a great deal more expensive than organic mulch, and thus are used less often than straw or sod mulches.

A Protective Layer of Mulch

Mulch is essentially a blanket of organic or non-organic materials used to protect seeds from exposure to climate conditions. It can also, however, be used to great effect as a protective barrier between the seeds and predatory birds. For the purposes of growing grass seed, organic mulches made of straw are the most effective mulch for protecting and nurturing grass seed, as they are non-toxic and naturally biodegrade over time.

A straw mulch layer of no more than 1/4-inch thickness will effectively repel birds as well as add vital soil nutrients to the ground below. Any remaining straw mulch can be removed once the grass has achieved a height of a few inches.

Flash Tape

Flash tape is on of the safest, non-toxic ways to repel birds peacefully. Often made of metallic-looking polyethylene plastic, flash tape can be laid out in any number of ways (hung from tree branches in 2- to 3-foot lengths, posted to the ground horizontally between garden rows, etc). When the wind blows, the tape makes a humming or vibrating sound and reflects the sun's rays in an intermittent, flickering fashion. The sound will cause the birds to fear predatory animal activity, and the flickering will repel them by disorienting them.

Landscapers using flash tape should hang or post anywhere from 10-15 strips of tape for every 400 square feet of area.

Source:

All About Lawns: Give Your Lawn a Mini Makeover With a Dose of New Grass Seed

Great Landscaping Ideas: Grass Seed & Planting Categories

Biocontrol Network: Bird Scare Flash Tape

More Information:

The Gardening Website: Heavy-Duty Anti Bird Netting