By Steragram
Pembrokeshire,
United Kingdom 
Strawberries: I don't normally grow them but was given half a dozen and the fruit is superb. But I never get a whole one. I put jam jars over ripening ones to keep the birds off and slug pellets nearby, and now there are holes full of ants. What with these and the other thief I'm tempted to grass the whole thing over...(though we have just set up a security camera to try to identify the gooseberry thief) Any suggestions please?
15 Jun, 2017
Answers
Any suggestions? My advice would be, give it up as a bad job. I tried to grow strawberries on my allotment. Firstly, the slugs attacked them so I put straw beneath them. Then the blackbirds pecked them so I covered them in netting and then to top it all I had rats stealing them before they ripened. So I called it a day so to speak.
15 Jun, 2017
It would be a shame to give up without trying all possible solutions. Good luck!
15 Jun, 2017
I prefer not to give up and can deal with the slugs - it is the ants that are really bugging me. There are so very many here.
15 Jun, 2017
You just need a pet woodpecker Sue :) (Must be horrible though . . )
15 Jun, 2017
Why? Do they eat ants on the ground? I haven't seen the one who normally visits us since the magpies moved in. A pet one would be nice!
15 Jun, 2017
Yes, they adore ants . . . we see them diving their sharp beaks between the paving stones and at the edges of the lawn - very useful!
16 Jun, 2017
Well they are missing dinner here then. We are always finding heaps of sand between the paving blocks - a real nuisance. We've only ever seen them on the peanut feeders - but not this year.
16 Jun, 2017
Those pesky magpies . . :(
17 Jun, 2017
You can say that again - two of them even ganged up on the cat last week.
17 Jun, 2017
Stera - Try growing them in a strawberry pot. Here is a video just for you. Good Luck!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiMfVprdYQ8
22 Jun, 2017
Coffee Grounds, Diatomaceous Earth, human hair, vacuum cleaner fluff.
15 Jun, 2017