Best way to net fruit bushes up.

[noviceveggrower]

Hi,
Was just wondering how everyone covers their fruit bushes up. I have several currant bushes in the same area.
So is it going to be best netting individual bushes or do it as a block by making a frame?
Going to Wilks to get netting on Tuesday so can hopefully get quite a bit if needed.

[roitelet]

If you have the time I would suggest a frame. If you just throw the netting over the bushes it gets all tangled up in the branches and is a pain to remove. Also the new growth has a tendency to grow through the net and as you take it off it damages it.

[boundtothesoil]

I have a home-made wooden frame with black nylon netting, comprising of several rectangular side- and roof-panels which I tie together with string. I put it in place around this time of year, and store it away once everything has fruited. I used to net individual bushes, but the blackbirds always managed to get inside.

[Two_Sheds]

If you just throw the netting over the bushes it gets all tangled up in the branches

Yep, and that's why my redcurrants have twisty gnarled horizontal branches with bits of netting still attached to them *blush*

Now, I do it the proper way: put tall canes up (taller than the plants), put old plastic bottles on the canes, then drape the netting over the top.

I only put the netting up when the fruit is ripening though, not all the time, so as to lessen the "getting in a tangled mess" mess

[noviceveggrower]

The area I need to cover is about 12ft by 6ft. Would fleece work just covering the plants up with that then pegging the edges?

[Two_Sheds]

Fleece is for a different job though. Is that all you have?

[noviceveggrower]

No I just have shed loads of the stuff. Going to Wilkos tomorrow to get some netting.

[Aliflute]

I used fleece last year (all I had), securing it in places with clothespegs. It wasn't enough to cover the bushes completely, but worked well. Oddly, the birds which usually find any tiny gap in netting, left the fleece-covered bushes completely alone. Maybe because they couldn't see through it and felt vulnerable? If I used it again, I would wait till the berries were starting to ripen before putting it on. It seems to disintegrate after a while, so shreds of it get everywhere!