Our Ultimate Guide To Building a DIY Fruit Cage
Buying a fruit cage or fruit net from a store can be expensive and is essential if you growing fruit and want to protect your produce from birds and animals.
Building a fruit cage yourself is a simple solution that will save you money and is easy to do, all you need are some framing materials and wire as well as some netting for the main protection.
To help you out with making a DIY fruit cage, we’ve listed two simple ways to make a temporary fruit cage and another one with timber wood down below.
What Are The Benefits Of Making a Fruit Cage?
Fruit cages are a must-have in your garden if you are growing fruit, they protect attractive fruits such as strawberries and blueberries from getting picked at by birds and also help to prevent pests from getting into your plants.
When making your fruit cage you also have full control over its size, you can have it as small or as large as you want for growing small trees or small fruit bushes.
How To Make a Temporary Fruit Cage
To make a temporary fruit cage you will need some canes on hand to stick into the ground, these could be made of bamboo or plastic.
We’ve listed the full steps below.
- Position your canes a metre apart to create a grid around your fruit then put the wire in between the canes for hanging the net on, secure the wire to the top of each cane by twisting it around.
- Take your large net, this should have an extra width for covering the canes and wire, secure the sides of the net to the ground with some metal pegs to anchor it to the ground, ensure there are no gaps for wildlife to get through and that it secure against the wind.
How To Make a Timber Fruit Cage
If your looking to DIY a fruit cage that is a little more sturdy, consider using a wooden one, you should however make sure that the type of wood you are using is pest-resistant so that it does not rot inside of the ground.
- First off, use four pieces of 4×2 timber for your upper wood and eight pieces of 4×4 uprights for the vertical framing, place them 1.8 metres apart in the ground to make the base frame for your fruit cage.
- Next, attach your top timbers to the bottom using screws and L-shaped plates for stability, and repeat for each timber using the 4×2 pieces to make sure that the frame is connected.
- Staple your net to the corners of the fruit cage and peg to the ground, measurements can be changed according to the type of fruit you will be growing.
Last Words
To conclude building a fruit cage is simple to do DIY and saves a lot of money than buying one online or through a local garden centre. Always consider the material you are building with since this will determine how long your fruit cage lasts.
You should further check the quality of the net that you are using, make sure it can’t be ripped easily and that it has some protection against UV.
