DIY fruit cage advice?

[Seahorse]

you could always use copper plumbing pipe to create the cage, not to expensive and make it any size you want.

Hmm - slug deterrent too!

[axe70]

you could always use copper plumbing pipe to create the cage, not to expensive and make it any size you want.

and if you use push fit joints no need for flame or flux and with the
release tool you can take it down if you ever need to

[Seahorse]

I'm really quite sold on the copper pipe idea, especially as it's not half as expensive as I thought.

I was thinking of chicken wire as 'netting'. What would be the best way to attatch it? Could I just use lengths of wire to 'tie' it on?

[chrissie the chippy]

what about using a gazebo frame? I was going to try and find one, stake it in each corner with wooden fence posts and cover it in netting.... was thinking of the netting they use on scaffolding??? Very similar to the tent idea!!

I'd need something gazebo size, I'm 5'9 and oh is over 6 ft

[Seahorse]

I had wondered about gazebos but to buy new, the big ones aren't much cheaper than a 'proper' cage. I'm still going to keep an eye on Freecycle and the like though. In fact I've just thought whether it might be worth approaching one of those places that hires them out for weddings etc to see how they dispose of ones that are past their best...

[chrissie the chippy]

I remember seeing someone offer a frame on freecycle, hadn't thought of it back then Might be worth posting a wanted add on there

Good idea asking where they hire them out!

[TonyF]

I bought one from Harrods before I moved here and we moved it last week - 5 of us. I've taken all the raspberries, gooseberries and blackberries out and put them into slightly raised beds (myrtille going in the other fruit bed) and have just left the red/white/blackcurrants in the cage cos they're the ones that get pinched.

I'm going to grow the black and tay berries, plus the kiwis and dessert grapes up over tunnels.

[Seahorse]

What are myrtilles Tony? They look blueberry-ish from Google but all references I can find are in French!

[aslan]

Hi Seahorse - I'm new!

Myrtilles are french whortleberries found on moors like Exmoor & also in Scotland - probably many other moors troo.

The cultivated name is bilberry or low grwong blueberry.

The flavour on the wild variety is fantastic - nothing like the blamd tasteless variety found in supermarkets. They used to be a delicacy in the UK back in the 1950s (not that I remember), picked and sent to London to market.

The french make tarts with them and they are great in crumbles too.

[allotmentlady]

builders sites sometimes throw away in skips old building mesh which is ideal for a fruit cage, ask and they will let you have it! Gazebo frames are ideal and you can reduce the siz.

Copper and you might get some naughty person nicking it as copper prices at the scrapyard have gone up!

[Derek]

My two pennies worth..

I built two large fruit cages a couple of years ago... On has a frame of scaffolding.. four posts and a cross pole at both ends...I fixed chicken wire around it using wire. I then ran some support wire across the top and then spread a fine net over the lot

The second has eight metal posts each with a metal crossmember over to support the netting...this too has chicken wire sides.

Both have been extremely successful and are both big enough to grow some brassicas and sweetcorn inside as well as fruit....for the last two years I have had more soft fruit than I can cope with

The main reason for doing it this way is that we have several colonies of badgers in and around the plot... they cause mayhem at times... three years on the trot they destroyed my ripening sweetcorn overnight

[lucky]

i had a cage made of copper pipe in my back garden until about two weeks ago, when it got nicked! it worked really well until then.

[TonyF]

i had a cage made of copper pipe in my back garden until about two weeks ago, when it got nicked! it worked really well until then.

Changing your name to Unlucky? Bloody hell, that is a real bummer.

I'm thinking of having another one but I'm going to build it from treated timber, same dimensions as my posh Brit one but made from new roofing lathes etc which should redice the cost considerably. That will go with the two fruit tunnels which will be (about) 90% recycled. I will treat the timber tho before I screw it all together.

[terrier]

advertise for 'old greenhouse, any condition'. You dont need the glass, just the frame. Trouble is, everyone else wants them as well, but they are very useful as fruit cage frames and cut downin height, will make fantastic clotches.

[kernowyon]

i was eyeing up the kids swing in the garden, its one of the double ones, we were going to dump it but if i can get another one off freecycle or the like i will use that. i have some great netting (old sports netting - like cricket nets) that i picked up when some workmen were replacing the high netting from the sports fields to stop balls reaching the road. a swing frame at either end and some support wires for the roof i think it could make a great cage