Fruit cage - fad or functional?

[Alchemilla]

I had never heard of fruit cages before I moved to the UK. My grandfather grew lots of fruit on his farm and never netted it. I don't ever recall there being any problems with blackberries, apples, kiwis, strawberries, plums, pears, gooseberries etc. The birds would eat about 50% of the red currants, grapes, raspberries, elderberries and cherries - but somehow we never thought this a reason for crop protection, as we still had plenty left.

Are birds a particular problem in the UK? I plan to grow fruit bushes and espaliers in a small suburban garden in South Wales. Can I expect not to harvest any fruit if I don't net it? Or would I lose only a percentage of my crop?

[bearded bloke]

It does to a degree depend on the 'wildlife' in your area, our soft fruit bushes are in a cage to guard against the flying rats, they get the greater part (if not all) the cherries (not netted) one year something had all the apples as well (not netted)

[Alison]

Fruit cages definitely aren't a fad, my grandparents had one in their garden 40 odd years ago which housed the raspberries, strawberries and currants. Never bothered with keeping any hard fruit in there and the blackberries / tayberries fended for themselves. I know when I've not covered red currants they can be totally stripped leaving me none.

[WendyC]

My allotment neighbour and I both grow gooseberries. Mine are in a fruit cage, hers aren't. I got to harvest mine last year. Mr Blackbird helped himself to my neighbour's.

[chrisdb]

I don't bother. I've lived in houses with little green space or natural habitat nearby and my current house which is surrounded by bird friendly terrain, and in both cases yields are fine for me without netting. I just keep an eye on things and pick if birds take too much. That works fine for things like currants.

There are a few more problematic crops. You can grow cherries without netting if you have an old fashioned big tree, but I think birds would easily take the entire crop from dwarf trees. Strawberries are also a bird favourite in my garden, but I'm happy to use them as a low yield groundcover / sacrificial crop. If I had dedicated strawberry beds, I might be a bit more upset. Oh, and suprisingly chokeberries (aronia spp.), which are so sharp they need cooking to be edible in quantity, are almost impossible for me to harvest since they're such a bird favourite.

I think you basically have two choices: see what works for you without all the nets and pesticides etc. and go with that, or refuse to admit defeat and declare war whenever something doesn't work. I tend to be more on the 'go with the flow' approach.

[Alison]

I don't bother. I've lived in houses with little green space or natural habitat nearby and my current house which is surrounded by bird friendly terrain, and in both cases yields are fine for me without netting. I just keep an eye on things and pick if birds take too much. That works fine for things like currants.

There are a few more problematic crops. You can grow cherries without netting if you have an old fashioned big tree, but I think birds would easily take the entire crop from dwarf trees. Strawberries are also a bird favourite in my garden, but I'm happy to use them as a low yield groundcover / sacrificial crop. If I had dedicated strawberry beds, I might be a bit more upset. Oh, and suprisingly chokeberries (aronia spp.), which are so sharp they need cooking to be edible in quantity, are almost impossible for me to harvest since they're such a bird favourite.

I think you basically have two choices: see what works for you without all the nets and pesticides etc. and go with that, or refuse to admit defeat and declare war whenever something doesn't work. I tend to be more on the 'go with the flow' approach.

Interesting post and a couple of things stood out for me. Firstly where you grow does make a difference. Not only the environment but also where it is in relation to where you live. Most of my fruit is 2 miles away at the lottie so I can't keep an eye on it as much as at home which I think is important.

Secondly, nets and pesticides are very different things and shouldn't be associated with each other. I can see how all out chemical attack could be seen as declaring war on pests but don't see netting as remotely equivalent. Quite the opposite in fact. I grow naturally and without adding unnecessary chemicals. I net against birds (not really a pesticide equivalent anyway ) but also use fine mesh against insects. This doesn't kill anything, just prevents the two things coming together. I also have a pond and nature area to attract natural predators. None of this us however relevant to the OPer's query .

[chrisdb]

Also, I think density of fruit might make a difference. My gardens tend to be fruit dense, and I do lose some things but for much of the year multiple things are fruiting at the same time so I get some of the majority of fruits. If you only have one or two fruiting plants in the area, I guess those will naturally be magnets for anything flying past.

[chrisdb]

Interesting post and a couple of things stood out for me. Firstly where you grow does make a difference. Not only the environment but also where it is in relation to where you live. Most of my fruit is 2 miles away at the lottie so I can't keep an eye on it as much as at home which I think is important.

Secondly, nets and pesticides are very different things and shouldn't be associated with each other. I can see how all out chemical attack could be seen as declaring war on pests but don't see netting as remotely equivalent. Quite the opposite in fact. I grow naturally and without adding unnecessary chemicals. I net against birds (not really a pesticide equivalent anyway ) but also use fine mesh against insects. This doesn't kill anything, just prevents the two things coming together. I also have a pond and nature area to attract natural predators. None of this us however relevant to the OPer's query .

I agree completely that it's a lot easier when the fruit is just outside your back door.

I'm less sure of the benign nature of netting. In most urban areas the majority of green space is gardens. Bird species that mostly eat fruit need to get that fruit from somewhere, so the question is, do you have any fruiting shrubs that aren't intended to feed you? And do those 'ornamentals' cover most of the year without an 8 month hungry gap? If all fruiting shrubs are human edible and netted, then what you've done is try to starve the birds to death, which is probably less kind that just shooting or poisoning them.

Of course, you can rely on your neighbours to feed the birds for you by leaving unnetted berries, assuming your neighbours aren't keen fruit growers. You can also import bird food, but this tends to be nuts and seed, not fruit, and is also then making the birds consumers in the less than green global agriculture industry. Whereas just letting the birds take some of your locally produced fruit is much easier and what they would do naturally.

Basically, if you care about wildlife, I think you should leave them space to integrate into the ecosystem you created when you filled your garden with plants. Use controls sometimes to ensure a fair share, but don't let the default be 100% exclusion.

[Jungle Jane]

My parents never cover their cherry trees & birds always get their cherries,they've never had one cherry in about 7 years,they do like birds though I don't think they mind.

[alldigging]

If you have someone who doesn't pick berries then the birds will learn that they are tasty and then come looking for more.
Especially blackbirds who are cheeky so-and-sos and will rob raspberries off the canes even if it takes a lot of effort and you're nearby!

[chrisdb]

My grandparents have two massive cherry trees about 15m tall. Birds strip the top half, but those are too hard to reach anyway, and you can still fill shopping bags easily with the fruit lower down. It's definitely possible to oversupply the bird population with cherries, but the quantities might need to be very large...

[veggiechicken]

Birds that visit gardens for fruit will go elsewhere to feed if none is available. Its not a question of "starving them to death" because yours are netted

Here, birds take all the outdoor cherries - so I now grow small cherry trees in a netted tunnel.
I grow blackcurrants, raspberries and strawberries in there too. There are plenty more fruit bushes in the garden for them to feed on, if they wish.

[chrisdb]

Birds that visit gardens for fruit will go elsewhere to feed if none is available. Its not a question of "starving them to death" because yours are netted

Here, birds take all the outdoor cherries - so I now grow small cherry trees in a netted tunnel.
I grow blackcurrants, raspberries and strawberries in there too. There are plenty more fruit bushes in the garden for them to feed on, if they wish.

My point is that's fine as long as other people don't think like you and also focus on growing fruit for themselves at the expense of local wildlife. If you do that and also like/enjoy wildlife then you're being a freeloader, who enjoys the benefits of the commons without contributing to their upkeep, because apart from gardens what else is there in the middle of urban areas? If you want local wildlife I think you should give it some leeway to be an active part of your garden.

I'm not saying never protect anything. If there's one crop that has massive problems then feel free. I just think you shouldn't turn your entire garden into fort knox unless you're the kind of person who would happily shoot the animals you're excluding.

[Alison]

My point is that's fine as long as other people don't think like you and also focus on growing fruit for themselves at the expense of local wildlife. If you do that and also like/enjoy wildlife then you're being a freeloader, who enjoys the benefits of the commons without contributing to their upkeep, because apart from gardens what else is there in the middle of urban areas? If you want local wildlife I think you should give it some leeway to be an active part of your garden.

I'm not saying never protect anything. If there's one crop that has massive problems then feel free. I just think you shouldn't turn your entire garden into fort knox unless you're the kind of person who would happily shoot the animals you're excluding.

As I said in my earlier post, I do a lot of stuff to protect and encourage beneficial wildlife and as the only reasons the fruit bushes are there is to provide me with fruit then I don't feel remotely guilty protecting it for my use. If I didn't want the fruit, I wouldn't grow it so it wouldn't be available to the birds either. How big the issue is may depend on where you live, I live in a semi rural area close with my lottie bordered by native, fruiting, hedging. Within walking distance is a wood which again is surrounded by plenty of fruiting trees and shrubs including wild roses (hips), blackthorn (sloes), hawthornes (haws), elders (elderberries) and wild cherries. Some of these are foraged but by far the majority are eaten by wildlife. The canal banks are full of brambles and much more. If you have the misfortune to live in a concrete jungle then I guess there is less choice.

[Bigmallly]

Chris - If I choose to grow fruit or any crop for that matter, no way am I going to account or apologise for the methods I choose to use. Birds will not starve because I may choose to net them. They also would not starve if I decided not to grow fruit. Please submit some info in support of your claims.