If you have the space, a fruit cage is a great idea to protect your fruit from birds and squirrels. Although perhaps initially expensive, a permanent fruit cage is the easiest way to manage and protect a number of plants at the same time. Although you can buy fruit cage kits with metal frames and plastic netting, it is also relatively simple to make your own; this has the advantage that you can build it to whatever size you need.

Before building a fruit cage, it is usually worth sketching out a design. Walk-in fruit cages should be at least 2 m (6 1/2 ft) high, and require a wooden upright at each corner, a further pair for each 1.8 m (6 ft) of length or width and an extra upright to house the door.

Materials

• Wooden uprights (at least 2.4 m (8 ft) long and pressure-treated with preservative)
• Rough-sawn treated timber for cross members and door
• Door fittings - hinges and catch
• Fruit cage netting with mesh about 13-20 mm for the roof and sides (or galvanised chicken wire for sides)

Method

1. Cut the crossbeams to length and lay them on the ground to mark out the shape.
2. Position the uprights carefully and insert into the ground so that they are spaced no more than 1.8 m (6 ft) apart). Make sure that they are vertical and reach the same height, check with a spirit level. You will use one of these uprights to fix one side of the door; add in another upright to act as the other side of the door frame.
3. Fit the cross beams to the uprights using metal brackets.
4. Make a door using the rough-sawn timber and strengthen it using off cuts of sawn timber set horizontally across the door to divide the frame into thirds. You should then position a diagonal strut in the top and bottom third.
5. Attach netting to the door.
6. Fit the door to the door uprights using hinges. Fix a catch (a metal hook and eye is usually quite adequate) to the door and the upright.
7. Attach the netting (and wire if used) to the cage, making sure that there are no gaps. The roof netting needs to be reasonably taut and should be fixed so that it can be easily removed if necessary. For example, if snow is forecast roof netting should be removed or replaced by larger span pigeon netting (15 cm/6 in) to allow wet, heavy snow to fall through and prevent damage to the netting or the frame. Netting may also need to be removed when fruit blossom is out, to aid pollination.