Before and after............
If anyone is thinking of making a brassica cage out of garden canes and build-a-balls... dont!!
our mate's bought fruit cage has collapsed, cost him quite a lot, too :-\
I keep telling myself it's exceptional snowfall, haven't been to see how our brassica cages are :-X
I had/have some calabrese under hoops and mesh - at the mo it's just a lumpy pile of snow. I went armed to the plot with the broom to knock snow from the polytunnel and fruit cage - the mesh was very saggy but fingers crossed :-\
Too late :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(
marg
ours have met a similar fate,but can rebuild them easy enough,did spend a while yesterday going round the site shaking the snow off everyone elses,till it got just tooo cold
I just have to get there before the pigeons do.. could be tricky!
some pics of the deceased fruit cages and netting on our plots
Aagh!! Heart-breaking, isn't it? I lost mine a couple of years ago - a huge one I'd inherited from a friend. And I did know that in winter you take the top off!
And the pigeons dived in and ate all my PSB, which was just coming into crop!
I change the netting on the top of my cage in October when the cabbage butterflies have gone. I use fine netting from planting to Autumn and then the sort with 4" squares. Wilcos sell both and also Wyvales. Never had a problem since 1963 when I learnt the hard way. I should have mentioned this on top tips. Feel guilty now.
lewic - I think it should be "this is why you should build a cage out of canes and build a balls". What have you lost? The canes and possibly your brassicas if the pigeons get there first? New canes wont cost that much. If it had been built using aluminium poles then it would have been really expensive and steel ones would probably have bent as well.
Look on the bright side. You can now rebuild your cage and have it up quickly while all those with expensive cages can't. You could be a real smug b******* about it if you wanted. :)
QuoteLook on the bright side. You can now rebuild your cage and have it up quickly while all those with expensive cages can't
Hmm.. hadnt thought of it like that. Am rather new to all this!
Right so you get new canes and rebuild it and if anyone passes comment you say.
"Ah well, I thought it was likely to happen so i didn't think it worth paying a lot of money for something that might get broken"
I used dowelling for my cage and build-a -balls. Thicker type for the upright supports to fit the larger holes and slightly thinner for the crossway ones. It has worked well for my sprouts.
We had the same outcome with using canes and the build a balls, but as previously said we can easily rebuild in the spring. We built 2 other cages using quite stout timber and debris netting. The winds in November did their worst so we painstakingly put them back only to find that within a week the wild life had bulldozed them down. Just before New Year we took them all down. So glad we did as although we haven't been over for a few days we know that the plots are just covered in snow and will eventually thaw and should look reasonably tidy. The PSB was a waste of time . Panted it early last season, maybe too early and it mostly went to seed in the summer before we had anything from it. Don't think we will grow again this year.
Here is our fruit cage. Before and after. :'(
(http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x311/7stephenson/Fruitcage.jpg)
(http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x311/7stephenson/fruitcage-1.jpg)
Paulines7 im in the same boat as you i had brassicas under mine and now its as flat as yours i got 2 poly tunnels from Melbourne12, bolted them together and netted them with debris netting and the weight of the snow has just caused them to bend and twist and snap :(, so they will need a bit of tlc when the snow has gone.
Mine survived,screwed together with tilers lathes.(http://i752.photobucket.com/albums/xx161/amazingrotavator/Photo-0028_1.jpg).Just need net with smaller holes in.Ordered Scaffold debris net for it.
V. relieved to finally get down the plot yesterday and find mine still standing after seeing all sad photos - I'd have been gutted.
Mine's not as elaborately screwed down as Amazingrotivator's, but I use the plumbing stuff and heavy metal bars, which I inherited on my plot, to weigh down the sides. Fine 7mm butterfly netting but is holding up.
Hi - it is just as well I haven't put my roof on yet!! It has given me an idea that I will use a post along one side and for the winter just unscrew it - as you don't really need a roof during the winter time. A bit of a faf but better that destruction!
I feel sad for you but I would think that some parts are salvageable?!
O B
I actually manufacture the Build-a-Balls so have an interest!
No light duty fruit or veg cage could stand up to the sort of snow we had this winter unless you stand there beating it off!
And - the balls work ok with canes, but work much better with the proper alu tubes (unfortunately, canes have a habit of NOT growing with the right diameters top to bottom)
I also manufacture build a balls, I take old tennis balls, score holes in them which given that they flex adjust to the size of those pesky canes and stick bamboo canes through.
Still have bags of build a balls in my shed - still saving for the ally tubes!