Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Chatting => Design and Construction => Topic started by: maddave on April 13, 2015, 15:25
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I'm looking to use some of the blue water pipe to make hoops to support netting and I am trying to work out how much pipe to get. My beds are 3 metres by 1.5 metres. Will three hoops 1 metre high be enough to support the netting plus a length of wood 25mm square, laying on top of the hoops down the length of the bed?
I.e a hoop placed at each end of the bed and one in the middle?
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I would have another hoop, making four in all in 3m. Others may have other advice of course, but that works for me :D
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If it works for you then it should work for me!! I dont want a saggy net!
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No, we don't want saggy, do we :lol:
I'd also add the fourth hoop.
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No, we don't want saggy, do we :lol:
I'd also add the fourth hoop.
:lol: :lol:
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That's the way, One every metre does fine for me!
(http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh550/silhouette1265/Allotment/D1DB5FC9-F4C3-4C5A-8B15-E8C7858CCC56_zpswnjeccjs.jpg)
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Thanks all.
Looks good Elm Street. That is what I'm hoping to achieve!
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The Anti fox / bird chicken wire is 20mm and the beds are 1.2 x 2.4m
The green netting is also on a bed which is 1.2 x 2.4 and the hoop is 25mm and is cut to a half circle plus 200mm either end for pushing in the ground. The lateral stiffeners on the top and sides help stop the mesh sagging especially when the foxes use it as a trampoline
The small one is 20mm dia, potable on a timber frame measuring 1.2m x 1.2m
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We do four on our 8 foot beds and still get saggy sometimes lol
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Not if you roll up the bottom and peg it with tent pegs. I cable tie a timber or plastic batten to the bottom edge.
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Cadalot, Elm Street, does that green netting you use have a special name? I need something fine for my cabbages and sprouts. I've seen enviromesh and veggimesh, but they look quite delicate and expensive. Interested to see if there is something cheaper!
Thanks.
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Take a look on ebay and use "debris netting" in the search- there are various qualities of netting
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Perfect. Thank you.
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Mine came from tarpaflex
http://www.tarpaflex.co.uk/acatalog/Debris-Netting.html
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You can get debris netting free off scaffolders if you catch them when they're taking it down. They mostly just put it in a skip anyway. Just ask nicely.
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Noshed - I never have managed to get the timing right on that one :nowink:
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I received a pm about the middle hooped frame picture on the 12th April so here are the answers for all you girls and boys
What's the length of the MDPE pipe?
My beds are 1.2m wide so using some math I worked out the length of half the circumference of a circle then added 200mm either end to get pushed in the ground.
circumference of a circle C = 2 pi r
C = 2 x 3.1415926 x 600
C = 3869
1/2 C = 3869 / 2 = 1885 long above ground + 400mm to go into the ground
Thus total length of pipe 2385mm - I may have rounded up to 2400mm
How is it held in the ground?
I have a steel reinforcement bar that I use to probe a hole in the ground my beds are 2.4m long so I probe at each end and then at 800 crs. The water pipe is then just pushed into the ground.
What size is the netting?
2000mm wide and length cut on site over hoops but at least 800 + 2400 + 800 = 4000
How are your stabilizing bars fitted?
They are UPVC trim and have two holes drilled just smaller than the width or diameter of the MDPE pipe for the middle hoops and one hole just under the width of the pipe in from the end and then a cable tie is used.
Anything you can remember really.
The ends are drawn together at the middle at ground level and cable tied
I used to roll up the extra 2000-1885 = 115 divide that by 2 = approx. 60mm and put tent pegs over the rolled section. I now use plastic trim salvaged from a closing window installers like the stabilising bars and roll into the bottom of the netting and cable tie so the tent pegs hold the netting down close to the ground and it stops the foxes getting their noses under it and lifting it but you could use roof tile batten
I use the holes in the stabilisers to help me set out the hoops when probing the ground.
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I put up my hoops and netting this weekend. Thanks for all the advice. I bought the pipe from wickes which seemed to be the cheapest. I bought the netting from tarpaflex who were very good.
I ended up using pipe clips to mount the pipe to my bed edging as I could just leave these in place each year and just unclip and move the netting to different beds as required.
Photos show the clips and the netting before I tidyed up the edges.
My only problem is I don't think the nets are high enough for my sprouts so might have to think of something else for them!
Thanks all again for your help.
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You can raise the pipe up on some lengths of wood/cane, pushed in the pipe ends, to give higher hoops ;)
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I've made higher reinforced hoops for my sprouts but have not tried erecting it just yet, picture is them laid on the ground. I tried the extending on pipes and sticks etc and its always a faff.
First tie is at the diameter of the circle at the top, bottom tie is about 200mm from where ground level will be when placed in the ground and the middle tie is mid way between the other two. There will be longitudinal ties along the bed at each level and the apex of the roof. I will also add a couple of raking braces on the side one each end and if still not stable enough both sides both ends.
I will upload a photo when it gets built
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This is my taller one that I use for sprouts and psb for the majority of the growing season.
(http://i1305.photobucket.com/albums/s559/Rachel_38/641ec24f5dfca6c0872c2bf4d2f4fe81_zpsq1r2f0j2.jpg)
As you can see my netted beds are not as professional looking as others that have been put on here but they have done the job for the past few years
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I've just started using treated dahlia stakes to make small cages - I like the plastic hoops, but find that my plants push out the netting towards the curve on the hoops as they get bigger. My own fault for optimistic spacing I guess.
The frames are easily dismantled and will be stacked for winter on gutter clips after a dunking in wood preserver. The bird netting is cut to bespoke length/width from Nutley's Kitchen Garden who are really helpful.
It didn't cost that much - whole thing with netting, bamboos, stakes was about £40 for a 4.8mx1m bed and should last a good few years. :D
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I love the funky colours!
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After looking at and reading about these frames on here and on you tube, I have just bought some CLS timber to make my own. Just given the wood its first coat of preservative. I will post pics when it is finished as I am building one first to see how it goes. If all goes well I will make another one.
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Here is my take on making a cage using Blue water pipe's.
The frames are 2.4M x 1.2M, I made them using CLS timber. They have had about 8-10 coats of preservative on them over the past couple of weeks. I have made these this afternoon. I have the netting in the car. They will now be taken apart and taken to the plot over the weekend.
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After seeing what I have made, I have already decided to make some more, but they will be a little higher. On the new ones I will cut the Blue tube at 3M length's, this will give me some more head room for sprout's etc. The cost's to make these are as follows. The wood £12, Blue tube £15, debris netting 2M x 10M £10. When they are on the plot I will post some pic's.
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Took all the bit's down to the plot earlier, here's what they look like without the netting.
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You need to have perfectly flat soil or cabbage whites will get in underneath the wood.........
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Thanks, don't worry about that they will be bedded down a couple of inches when the Cabbages go in . I just put them in the plot to show how they would look.
Thanks Again.
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I tried the really high construction and it didn't work it was unstable before the netting went on so I trimmed it down to about 5 foot high and if you look at the photo I have uses a blue pipe connected to the hoops as a brace to stiffen the structure and provide lateral restraint against wind.
I have plastic along the bottom of the netting which is held in place withplastic milk bottles filled with sand, so pulling up one side at a time I can get in quickly and easily when I need too
Left Mk I Version Way too high and flimsy
Middle Mk II Version before I levelled it up a little more and added the sway brace to stiffen the whole frame up.
Right Mk II Covered with two nets cable tied together along a ridge member