Fruit cage

[bobleponge]

Want to build one when I get home from work.
Even though I have used the excellent search facility, I cant seem to find any pix of home made ones.
Anyone made one? What heights do you suggest? What netting?
Etc etc, all thoughts happily received.

[yellow strawberry]

we have just built one ,,no pictures yet tho sorry ,,i can tell you what we did though

built a square base with scaffold boards attached fence posts (7ft ) to the corners then used decking boards across the top so a cube shape ,,we then put lightweight wood top to bottom and attached chicken wire the them ,,so measure how wide the chicken wire is and do the battening to the width you need,, we attached the chicken wire from the bottom to the top over the top (roof) and down the other side in one go then did the side in separate panels we then just wired the chicken wire roof together

i hope this makes sence to you sorry i havnt got any picture to show you but it looks great

[Hans Mum]

no pictures yets Bob, i'll get some - I made mine from the old trampoline enclosure & poles so it was free

[bobleponge]

Mine will be free less the actual netting, with you there Hans Mum, free is great.

Yellow Strawberry, what sized chicken wire did you use? I mean the size of the gaps, I have a real fear of finding birds that were unable to escape once they get in, and I know they can squeeze through some pretty small gaps. Especially when they see all that scrummy fruit inside.

[yellow strawberry]

sorry forgot the door ,,we just used used the same wood as the battening and hinged it to the corner fence panel

[yellow strawberry]

it was 25mm chicken wire ,,i am now hoping that is small enough ,,,the strawberries are in a separate strawberry cage/box which just has a lift off top and we have done that with scaffolding netting

[Tomatoking]

Bob, we are about to do the same thing this week. We are off to buy some cheap plastic netting, and I will make the frame from old wood lying around.
I also have a frame from an old pergola, which I will use for added support.
Well thats the plan! Just have to find a place to buy cheap netting.


Good Luck with yours.
Mr TK

[Two_Sheds]

Is this any help? Making a fruit cage

If you can bear to, go to Google Images and type in "fruit cage" and you'll see lots of inspiration: http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?im...26tbs%3Disch:1


Someone on my site built one out of cheap blowaway greenhouse parts, which all buckled under the weight of woodpigeons. The net was just draped over and pegged down with bricks: blackbirds would crawl through the gaps and get stuck inside the cage with all the strawbs. It ended up being more trouble than it was worth

A properly built one with the netting stapled taut would be ace though

[bobleponge]

TS, that first link was great, just the sort of thing I have in mind. I couldnt bring myself to Google I'm afraid, I'm with the Chinese on that one!!

Mr TK, if you find cheap netting can you let me know where?

When I get home I will do some before during after pix and if it comes out anything like I hope, I will put them on here for others to see how not to do it.

[Nicos]

We built a temporary one for our brassica patch which could be moved with the rotation each year.
I wouldn't bother again- but I like the idea for the fruit as it would be in a fixed position.
One thing to consider is the height- do you want to be stooping when you weed or pick the fruit?

We used 3x3" posts as uprights and strung cord between them to support fabric netting. No door- just roll back the netting.Big mistake!
In theory it was great, but the weeds grew up through the bottom of the netting and it tore and when a neigbour rescued a blackbird from the netting we realised it was just a bit of a rubbish design.
As far as the netting goes- remember not to have it so fine as to prevent easy access for the bees!
I suppose you could always fix fine netting inside the chicken wire if you find the holes too big.Once the flowers have been pollinated you'll only need to keep out the birds as the fruit starts to ripen.

[TonyF]

I brought one with me from the UK, had it up for a couple of years and have now dismantled it because it didn't sort of suit what I was doing. Was a bit pricey but was metal poles with all the bells and whistles, door, masses of netting, the whole thing.

I've been thinking of making it smaller/lower to stop the varmints getting on the beds now but will probably need to order some corner pieces.