Min size for fruit cages?

[chilliking]

I'm in the process of planning out an area for a greenhouse, 3 x raised beds (8x4) and have space left for 2 more beds 3 x 8 of which one will be for beans/tall veg and the other for ideally a couple of fruit bushes...redcurrant and black currant.

My question is is a 3x8 bed big enough for two currant bushes (red and black). If birds are a problem (loads of pigeons round here so i expect so) and I put a cage over the bed will there be enough room for the bushed to grow?

[Stan79]

Metres or feet?

[chilliking]

Metres or feet?

feet! wish i had meters to play with!

[Stan79]

Our black currant is probably about 3 feet wide. The red currant is probably more like four feet. With a bit of pruning it would probably work...

[SarrissUK]

You don't really need beds as such for fruit like currants - dig them a hole and plant them, then spread mulch around them to keep weeds down. They grow fairly quickly and will block out a lot of light in the summer so grown underneath is not usually that bad. I reckon a couple of layers of mulch a year will keep the weeds down so they don't interfere and compete with the currants.

[Mark_Riga]

The main culprit for red currants is blackbirds. I've never had birds go after blackcurrants so far but I had never had pigeon damage to plums before last year. I used to net the red currants as soon as I saw blackbirds showing an interest.

3' is a bit narrow but pruning to encourage them to the shape of your bed should be no problem.

[Bonjour]

3 feet is a bit narrow but as said above, a bit of creative pruning might work for you. Why bother with a full-time cage for just two bushes? You only need cover when the fruit are ripening, so you could use nets and a temporary framework of canes or sticks and remove it when the fruit's been picked.