Topic: Fruit Cage from scratch - - - more or less ???

[DawnF]

Hi,
Please can someone give me some advice???

Im in the proccess of constructing a fruit cage from scratch.
Do I
1. use old tent poles
2. use 2x2 for posts and join them all with thinner battoning

Then after this dilema  - - -
What type of netting to go over the top??
1. Pond netting
2. Cheap but plastic pea netting
3. Cicken wire
4. Demolition netting

I dont want the local wildlife ie birds getting stuck in it but I do want it to be secure from the pesky ones that will eat everything??

Any Ideas??

[grannyjanny]

We are about to construct our fruit cage. We bought 10 7' x 3" pointed stakes & 2" x 1" rails between them. For the brassica cage we built last year we used Wilkies pond & crop protection netting & will use similar for this. Ours will be 18' x81/2 '. Do you want it to be walk in if not you could use the blue piping with canes across to support it with netting over. I'm sure others will come along with more ideas. Good luck with it. BTW I use the term "We" very loosely ;D ;D ;D.

[Spudbash]

If the netting is securely attached to the posts and anchored to the ground, it should be bird-proof - it's loose netting that allows them entry. :)

[manicscousers]

we used chicken wire on ours, I think there's a picture in the gallery?

[lincsyokel2]

You need DEBRIS NETTING.

This is the stuff they wrap round scaffolding, up buildings. It comes in huge rolls 2 metres wide and 50 metres long for about £25. Its doesnt rot, its made of nylon so itss tough as old boots. Its has a very fine mesh (in fact itll stop carrot root fly).

Check on ebay.

[STEVEB]

I would use chicken wire for the top,mine collapsed under the weight of snow  :(

[Duke Ellington]

You need DEBRIS NETTING.

This is the stuff they wrap round scaffolding, up buildings. It comes in huge rolls 2 metres wide and 50 metres long for about £25. Its doesnt rot, its made of nylon so itss tough as old boots. Its has a very fine mesh (in fact itll stop carrot root fly).

Check on ebay.

Isn't DEBRIS NETTING too dense for a fruit cage.   You need to keep the birds out but some beneficial insects should be allowed in ...I would have thought!

[DawnF]

Duke of Ellington...
Thats what I thought
Think  its too smaller fine mesh it stops all creepy crawly nice things ??
Also isnt it used for shading in the greenhouse .... to stop the sunlight???

Dawn

[elvis2003]

we invested in really good quality netting from a local garden centre,its lasted three years now really well,mind we have stored it carefully away each year,its a bit pricey but the you get what you pay for.i see our neighbours using cheaper solutions and thats where we see birds trapped(and we spend ages trying to get the birds out cos the plot holders are rarely there)

[elvis2003]

I would use chicken wire for the top,mine collapsed under the weight of snow  :(

to add,i went up during the snow this year,and  absolutly everyones  cages had collapsed under the snow,fron newbies to very oldies,such a shame,me and the hub spent hours wrapped up shaking snow off everyone elses cages,but to be honest as the snow was 8 inches thick the damage was already done.we sort of gave up once we realised we were fighting a losing battle and built a lot of snowmen instead!
rach
xxx

[Robert_Brenchley]

Either take the top netting off for winter (you don't need it then if you're growing fruit) or replace it with larger mesh which still keeps keeps pigeons out but lets the snow through.

[Dadnlad]

Can highly recommend checking your local thatchers

They often need to replace the old chicken wire, and get charged to skip it so they're happy to let you have rolls and rolls of it for free ;D

Debris/scaffold netting works fine, if you're bothered about shading your fruit then only use it on north/west walls?  :P

A decent fruit cage is a long term project - cheap plastic netting wont last more than a year or two before needing replacing

[Unwashed]

Hi newbie

Sorry if I've posted this before, but I built this last year.  I used batten but you could do it with whatever you could find, and because it's made from short lengths you might be able to use scrap wood.

[Digeroo]

I used batten

I like it UW but what do you use for teh joints.

[Unwashed]

There's a hole in the end of each strut and I lash all the struts around a short section of 2" pole to create the hubs, and then I just lashed it all round.

[Digeroo]

Thanks should also ask how many lathes and how big are they?

[Mr Smith]

I will be constructing my own fruit cage later on and rather than try and pin the netting to the wood cage I will be using a heavy duty stapler, :)

[Unwashed]

There are six pentagons, one on top and five around.  So you need 30 pentagon spoke struts, and 35 pentagon rim struts - 30 for the pentagons, and 5 more to join them up around the base.

The ratio of spoke to rim strut length is the same whatever the size of the dome.  For a dome 1m diameter the spokes are .273m and the rims .309m.  So for example, if you want a dome 5.5m diameter just multiply those strut lengths by 5.5.  The struts come together at a bit of a mitre, and unless you're building a precision thing mitre all the ends at around 73 degrees.

If you use a bit of pole in the centre of the hubs like I did then strictly you need to reduce the length of the strut by the diameter of the hub, but it doesn't make any real difference to a fruit cage either way.

Assembly is difficult unless you're an octopus.  Lashing the pentagon hubs is easy, but you need to tie the rims on temporary and then lash the rim hubs as you bring the pentagons together, and all the time they're flopping around.  But the structure is increadible, because when you get the very last strut lashed the whole thing becomes rigid.

[lincsyokel2]

Duke of Ellington...
Thats what I thought
Think  its too smaller fine mesh it stops all creepy crawly nice things ??
Also isnt it used for shading in the greenhouse .... to stop the sunlight???

Dawn

I have rectangular cages 2.4m x 1.2m x 600mm covered in debris netting to drop over various crops at various times. Yes its keeps out everything, but still lets enough sunlight through. Its the only way to stop all and sundry eating your cabbages and cualis, for a start.  Its far cheaper than buying retail, lasts longer and is excellent for everything, including dropping over seedlings to stop the birds.

Lets face it, anything you buy from a retail establishment will be a) expensive and b) not designed to last.

[manicscousers]

I will be constructing my own fruit cage later on and rather than try and pin the netting to the wood cage I will be using a heavy duty stapler, :)

that's how ray made ours  ;D