New Fruit Cage but where will the Raspberries and Red Currants go?

[MarkHackwell]

This year I got a Polytunnel (At Last) on one allotment plot and am now looking at the Fruit Cage that has stood for over 10 years now.

At the start of the year I replanted all my raspberries as some were summer and some autumn all in the same row, however it still appears to have failed as they are still mixed up so need to sort them out again :P

Soo my first question is, I currently have 2 rows of Raspberries 2 foot apart, which according to books should be 6 foot apart, should I just leave this as be, move them again to the right places in autumn (hopefully this time), and mulch, or should I shift them to the correct spaces? Also with the Raspberries, they are currently outside the fruit cage however I was going to incorporate them if possible but they are on Concrete posts and wires at present. I was thinking of possibly buying one of the cheap Polytunnels and putting the frame over them what do you think?

Now on to the Fruit Cage, I currently have a fruit cage covering my Blackcurrants, Redcurrants and Gooseberries however it's mayhem in there, they are all mixed up and you can't get in. So I have seen an idea for a wooden fruit cage of which I intend to build, and then I will replant all the fruit bushes however I intend to this time grow the Red Currants as cordons, (Possibly the Gooseberries too). I have wooden stakes to go into the ground and wires to tie up through these, so should the Red Currant and Gooseberries also go into the Fruit Cage again?, I will need to build the structure higher though that's the only thing worrying me.

Sorry about all the questions. Big Ambitions but not a clue how to do them lol

[veggiechicken]

I'm not going to answer your questions - just share my experiences!
Birds here aren't interested in blackcurrants but redcurrants and raspberries disappear in seconds - even before they're ripe.
The JoanJ raspberries that are my "best" ones are inside a "tunnel" made from blue waterpipe and debris netting.
A couple of years ago I bought some cheap GH frames ?£25 each, joined them end to end, and covered them with debris netting. This is great as its sturdy, has a "proper" door and good height.
An alternative is a cheap PT with roof cut away and replaced with debris netting. This lets rain in but the sides give some protection.
I don't worry about mixed up summer & autumn raspberries - just pick whatever's ripe and prune out dead canes in winter.
I don't like spiky fruit in cages as it always attacks me and there's no escape.

[nickdub]

whether something needs to go in the cage or not depends on your local birds as much as anything - mine seem to like currants particularly, will eat gooseberries faut de mieux, but aren't too fussed by raspberries.

[BUFFS]

whether something needs to go in the cage or not depends on your local birds as much as anything - mine seem to like currants particularly, will eat gooseberries faut de mieux, but aren't too fussed by raspberries.

not a problem here, eating fruit and veg, its not something that gets done a lot around here..

[nickdub]

Having done battle with birds and squirrels for the soft fruit and rabbits and mice for veg, I began to wonder if the struggle was worth it. I more or less gave up on the veg (and rose bush) front when the roe deer moved in - now we have had some excavations from wild boar - still gives me an excuse to be lazy and concentrate on the tree fruit :-)

[MarkHackwell]

I'm not going to answer your questions - just share my experiences!
Birds here aren't interested in blackcurrants but redcurrants and raspberries disappear in seconds - even before they're ripe.
The JoanJ raspberries that are my "best" ones are inside a "tunnel" made from blue waterpipe and debris netting.
A couple of years ago I bought some cheap GH frames ?£25 each, joined them end to end, and covered them with debris netting. This is great as its sturdy, has a "proper" door and good height.
An alternative is a cheap PT with roof cut away and replaced with debris netting. This lets rain in but the sides give some protection.
I don't worry about mixed up summer & autumn raspberries - just pick whatever's ripe and prune out dead canes in winter.
I don't like spiky fruit in cages as it always attacks me and there's no escape.

Could I possibly be cheeky and ask for a picture of your tunnel covered with debris netting?

[Cadalot]

The JoanJ raspberries that are my "best" ones are inside a "tunnel" made from blue waterpipe and debris netting.
A couple of years ago I bought some cheap GH frames ?£25 each, joined them end to end, and covered them with debris netting. This is great as its sturdy, has a "proper" door and good height.

Any chance of a photo of your GH Frames and blue pipe enclosure VC ?

[Stan79]

Unless you put a barrier in, the raspberry roots will spread out and you'll never keep them seperate. I made two seperate long, thin beds about 2 feet apart and sunk a weed barrier (long sheet of plastic into the ground around the edge of each bed. The roots are normally pretty shallow (5cm) so if you go down 10-15cm you should have some success.

After advice on here i went for autumn raspberries at the top and northern side of the cage, then summer raspberries, then redcurrant, black currant, blueberry, gooseberry and cranberry across the front.

Every thing produced a good crop this year (second season it has been in place) apart from the cranberry which i think has passed on...

Strawberries are in a raised bed in front of the fruit cage.

[Stan79]

I've just realised there's a link to the thread i made about my fruit cage in my signature
down here:
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