Topic: Fruit cage

[Marlborough]

Hi everyone, I'm thinking of building a fruit cage using 22ml overflow pipe as a frame. I'm hoping this will keep the birds from feasting on my soft fruit. Has anyone used this pipe for a fit cage? Any advice would be appreciated.

[kGarden]

My only advice is to take the roof net off in good time in the Autumn as any snow on the net will be a huge weight and will bring the whole structure down ... as happened to my parents many years ago :(

[Paulines7]

I second that.  Ours was a large one made of strong metal poles but the whole thing was a right off after snow, as all the poles bent.

We made a new one last year with poles from old gazebos.  It was about 8ft wide and 50ft long and covered a row of blackcurrants intermixed with gooseberries and blueberries in pots.  It was very successful.  We took the netting off when the fruit had finished and the structure has survived so far.

[kGarden]

I think the birds come in and eat the bugs, when the fruit is not needing protection :)