Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Chatting => Design and Construction => Topic started by: RJR_38 on June 02, 2013, 19:14
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I will be looking to buy a fruit cage this summer so I can get it planted up this autumn. The rough size I will be looking at is 2m by 5-7m (length is flexible). The sites I have looked on seem to vary wildly in price and it is hard to tell what you are getting. Has anyone got any good recommendations? I don't mind spending some money to get something that will last but I haven't got money to be throwing around so I need something simple but good quality
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Wish I could help you out but I'm unfamiliar with UK products. They're impossible to purchase here so we're making our own out of 1x2's for upper bracings and side supports all screwed together then netting laid on top. Lower sides will have 2ft chicken wire inside to deter chewing pests like rabbits.
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Building my own from scratch would probably be my first choice if there were 2 of us - but it is only me at the lottie. I will have enough trouble talking the OH into helping me put up the shed this summer. At least a fruit cage 'kit' I can do by myself and isn't a 2 person job
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I know the feeling :D I have to drag my crowd kicking and whining to get garden help, yet they love to eat all the produce. Last year they got no blueberries or raspberries because the birds got everything so this year they're willing to help....a little.
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just a thought but what about buying a gazebo (think I paid £10 for mine in a sale) and covering it in debris netting?
I've just used the upper half of one (put up alone) to put over the brassica bed as pigeon protection and did think at the time it could be used as a fruit cage too... If you remove the little plastic feet the legs will push into the soil to hold it in place ;)
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I did wonder about that but wondered if it would be strong enough to stand winds etc - especially if it going to be 2m by 5m+
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looking at some of the ones you can buy they don't look like much more...
for that size I'd get two and stand them side by side so there'd be extra legs for support and push them well into the ground. I'd probably not leave them up all year - just put them up and have the netting over when the fruit had set and needs the protection.
I'm really considering doing it myself now! part of timber on the fruit cage I inherited on the plot has been badly neglected and needs replacing and will be quite a big job so this could be a semi-long-term solution ;)
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I think 2 gazebos butted together would work very well, and taking down the netting in fall is a wise idea considering how badly any heavy snowfall can damage and tear the net. I plan to take down my huge net each fall as it cost quite a lot and I don't intend to have to replace it from sheer laziness.
Another idea is THIS (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5sDPxYjnZk) one that I'll be making for my blueberries growing in raised beds. The connectors are simply snapped on rather than glued and are taken down each fall so they don't blow away in winter weather. I do get strong summer winds at times and will peg mine in securely. I already have the connectors and will be buying the piping tomorrow so we can put it together this weekend as my blueberries are already half grown and the birds will be coming by very soon.
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Lots to think about! Thanks. More research todo I think!
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I bought one from Harrod Horticultural and its been fine.
Look out for their special offers, there can be significant discounts.
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I have looked theirs and they do look like the best quality ones - also one of the most expensive so I will def keep an eye out for discounts!
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HH is one of the companies linked to the main website (click Allotment Shop underneath the top banner), and sometimes John secures discount codes for us here.
If you do decide to buy from HH, do click through to the site from the Shop above, because it will encourage HH to keep us as a commercial partner.
I've also seen this sort of thing on the Marshalls website, which is tempting:
http://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/easy-connect-crop-cage-large-pid6494.html
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Yes, I thought about smaller individual ones but I think it will just be easier (and more effective overall) to get a large ones I can walk into
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Ours is home made (yes I did read your original post RJR ;) ) with 2ins square posts set into post mix and a top frame screwed into place once the posts are up, made of the slightly thinner profile wood.
Netting is polythene black 1ins square holes (so insects can get in OK) stapled on from a roll, 2m wide
Fairly straightforward and has stood up to the 80mph+ gales we get too. It is 2m wide and the end section has some hooks to hold the netting so it can come off in the winter and let birds in to forage.
Decent price overall (ours is 14m long) and the only time we needed two people was for the stapling of the netting
HH is the best of the commercial ones I could see, but a tad pricy for the size we wanted though. A shorter one is affordably I reckon.
Make sure you get one that will not buckle under the weight of snow on the poles.. Some of the cheaper versions are fairly flimsy
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I have never needed a fruit cage. My fruit seems quite tame and none have ever attempted to escape.
Apart from the raspberries that are digging secret tunnels. I know they are because they keep popping up to see how far they have got.
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I don't think it is the potential wildness of the fruit I will have to worry about. We have lots of hungry birds here sadly!
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hi,
i will take few pics tomorrow of my fruit cage when i'm up the plot and put them on here, i didn't pay a lot for it,
6 salvaged fence posts, you could find a fencing firm near you ask and ask if you can check out their skips.
A few long pallets (denailed) i got from the local factory's.
Green netting:- http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3M-X20M-GREEN-DEBRIS-SCAFFOLD-GARDEN-WINDBREAK-NETTING-ALLOTMENTS-GENERAL-USE-/350801991752?pt=UK_H_G_Ladders_RL&hash=item51ad6d9848
hinges,
small bird mesh for the top:- http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GARDEN-NETTING-BIRD-NET-FRUIT-CAGE-NET-19mm-mesh-3M-X-2M-/251284651178?pt=UK_H_G_Garden_Plants_Landscaping_Garden_Materials_ET&hash=item3a81bb7caa
An old bolt lock i had lying around.
Some rope which i got from my local fisherman.
£36.50 and screws or nails.
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Finished my first blueberry raised bed cage and I'm quite impressed with it. The robins have already been trying to figure how to get in. OH cut the conduit so everything is very snug inside the raised beds. We went with UV resistant outdoor conduit rather than pvc piping. Cage 2 is almost pieced and I'll get the netting up soon as it's ready.
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If you can put a pic up Dantheman that would be great. I am coming round to the idea that maybe I will be able to make one by myself. I think the key thing will be to get the measurements etc right and to make sure the uprights are solid and straight which I guess I can do by cementing in.
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hi again,
I took some pictures for you, mine is a lot bigger then you will need but you could easily make it smaller.
The first picture is of the cage.
The second picture it the small bird netting on top, I've weaved rope from one side to the other to hold up the netting.
the third is one of the corners i have put three planks from a pallet up the side for height.it will also be used at the back part for the raised beds going in side.
I forgot to take a picture of the door.
if you would like anymore pictures let me know.
Hope this helps.
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Thanks. A couple of questions:
Does the debris netting allow insects in for pollination? I have plenty of debris netting but got it because it kept cabbage whites off my brassicas.
Where did you source your wood from? I have been doing a lot of research this afternoon and using the cheapest pressure treated wood I can find the wood comes in at £150 - I can get the whole thing for £225 from Harrods Horticultural so this is looking like a similar priced option to a wooden one by the time I get netting etc
How did you make your door as I would imagine this is the harder bit?
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The netting seems to be ok i guess as all the bushes are starting to flower. The mesh on the door is 20 x 20mm squares, i will pop up to the plot tomorrow to take some more pics of the door.
I was lucky with the timber posts, another plot holder dumped lots of old fence panels and posts in one of our car parks, so i had a good rummage though. Since then i have found a local fencing yard which almost every week has a full skip to look though.
in return i give them a few jars of pickle beetroot each year and some strawberry's. it cost them money to get rid of the skips so the more i can take the better for them.
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Ok thanks. I will do some research into local fencing companies as well to see if I can be lucky enough to source some for free (although knowing my luck probably not!).
Your fruit cage looks fab by the way so well done!
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Thanks will put a picture up when it's all finished.