Concrete remesh - durable and affordable trellising and deer fencing

I use 20’ of 5’ tall 14 gauge welded wire. That’s roughly a 6’ diameter circle. I cut 5’ off the 20’. Fix the remaining 15’ with two stakes, and then loosely zip tie the 5’ section as a door. 3 zip ties on one end to act as a hinge, one zip tie on the other side to close it.

6’ circle for me is perfect - large weed free area, easy to get in and work around the tree. Plenty of room for branches to grow up and out. Branches starting at 36" growing at 45-60 degree angle can clear the fence.

1 Like

I cut it in 6 foot pieces and let the natural bend to make a hoop tunnel type support. Pinned to the ground it makes a wonderful support for frost cloth with lots of places to clip the cloth to, after I take the cloth off I just let the tomatoes etc grow up thru the hoop.The large 6" holes allow you to reach inside to hand weed or hoe and pick.

I have also used these hoops to support fine cloth over my cabbages, once planted I never take them off. Beats the cabbage butterflies for sure.

1 Like

At a certain number of trees within a larger space, my vote is for a 3D fence. No need for individual cages. I have 3D fences around my 1.5 acre orchard and my garden. Both are very effective at keeping deer out.

1 Like

I don’t know if our deer are more aggressive or just hungrier. But they have pushed their way over and thru the horse fencing cages I had used previously. With the concrete re-fence, as long as it is well staked the deer cannot get thru it (other than what is within their reach thru the holes.

When I use it, I typically stake the start, and then again on the opposite side of the circle. To close it off, I bend a few horizontal wires into hooks and hook them to the starting vertical. It seem pretty deer proof, and also possibly people proof as it is a pain to open them and go inside.

1 Like

What works in one region may not in another. Your deer may be more aggressive, but probably not form hunger. When we have a scant acorn harvest deer get plenty hungry by mid-winter, especially on a snow year- but all we have is white tails. Did you say how wide your rings are? I use at least 10 ft of fencing and browsing usually doesn’t go too far into the ring. With some species and varieties at a rare site I have to use 3 stakes to reduce browsing, but this seems to be a matter of local behavior not based on food availability in the normal sense. At one site it was apparently because the deer were used to being fed corn by the previous owner- my client stopped doing this and also had me install an extensive orchard. The deer required my using 3 stakes on the mulberry trees and a single Mutsu while they didn’t bother 30 other varieties of apples and any of the varieties of plums, peaches, pears and apricots where I only used one stake.

Nowadays most of my nursery trees are high enough that I don’t have to use rings to protect them these days. In my nursery I get them to a certain height in a fenced area than transplant them to an unfenced one and pretty much let the deer have at them. I coil rings of plastic around the lower trunks to prevent rubbing and rabbit damage.

1 Like

The concrete reinforcing wire mesh makes the very best tomato cages imaginable.
My dad had some that were in service for 20+ years, and were still as good as the day he made 'em.

2 Likes

I use galv cattle panels for most of my tomato cages. Local Runnings gives me damaged ones for free often, just got 5 bent up ones last week. They are a chore to cut up, but they are heavy and will last a long time. I cut the bottom wire off so the remaining spikes can be shoved 5.5 inches into the ground. I make them into triangles with hinges so I can fold them down in the off season. It gets windy here and the thinner wire cages tend to bend and blow over when the wind starts blowing. I could probably stand on these cattle panel cages and not damage them. Ill post a pic sometime to give you an idea. I do use concrete remesh for my smaller pepper cages and det tomatoes. Still I make them triangle shaped with hinges so they can fold up in the off season, instead of round like a lot of people do.

1 Like

@Alan I suspect our feed pressure is somewhat higher here for the deer most years. Summer rainfall is usually sparse at best and by Sept-Oct there is not much green browse for them. Also they are mule deer here which may make a difference.

I made my circles a few feet bigger than the spread of the tree branches. That required enlarging them every couple of years as the trees grew (likely smaller/shorter trees than yours). But I have seen deer here put the front legs on the cage wires to reach up and eat taller branches.

1 Like

Of course your pressure would be higher if you are in the West. I can only speak for east coast conditions. 50 years ago I used to grow pot in the Santa Monica mountains. I had to build rigid chicken wire cages just to stop ground squirrels from eating the succulent leaves. The structures were tight enough to keep a parakeet inside.

Yes to the can’t use narrow cylinders. Their browse level and my easy to reach picking level intersect. They stand on their hind legs, knock apples off with their feet to eat. I’ve watched a doe do this to knock down apples for her fawn.

1 Like

I’m not sure exactly how high a guy would need to prune to avoid the deer, but they work at getting anything withing reach for sure. I have multiple trail-cap pictures of them standing on their hind legs and getting apples.


Its funny the Haralson apples are VERY hard for me to pick even when they’re dead ripe, and it’s the same for the deer - I’ll find deer teeth marks on a few every year where they’ve given a tug and not gotten it.

I use the regular lighter gauge rolls of wire and 4 steel T-Posts when the trees are younger. Although I did happen to have some extra concrete re-mesh that I took over there and made surrounds for a few trees one time. It works for sure, but they’re my least favorite trees to go in and out of. That stuff is stiff, and has a strong memory.

6 Likes

:grin:Dang! Where are you? I’ll come and make sure that deer never returns for you if you like?? :grinning:

2 Likes

I made sure this one never did :slight_smile:

But as an aside, notice the concrete wire cage to the left of this guy…, I thought I could get by with one stake on the heavy concrete wire and this is the ONLY fence I’ve ever had deer knock over. I had a trail cam on it, and I have several pictures with them coming right up to it with their noses on the camera. I think the flash on that one must have ticked off one of them because they got it off there somehow. I imagine they got their antlers hooked in and pushed until it slipped off the T-post. I’m sure that wouldn’t have happened had I had even one more post on it. But the beefy nature of the wire made me cut corners. Lesson learned… It was around a young Macoun tree that I then had to cut off at about a couple of feet.

But trail cams over by the apples yield some pretty cool pictures sometimes.

10 Likes

I can see how one of those fellas can knock it over. I’m original from OHIO and saw deer like that a lot but I didn’t hunt back then. Now i do hunt and live in Florida and they just rarely grow that big here. I’m jealous…What a beautiful pair of animals…HAHAHA…I just realized you are IOWAjer…Duh?? Wonder where you are???

2 Likes

Impressive racks! Not many hunters in your neighborhood? Bucks that mature are a rarity here. Now that the coyotes have moved in, I’m hoping they become rarer.

1 Like

These are just what are on my ground, and I don’t hunt any other ground. I live in the hills with a lot of timber ground - on the other hand… my Brother-In-Laws hunt far and wide and they consistently harvest bigger bucks than my ground holds. But I’m happy with the quality of the deer here, and there’s something about hunting your own land that appeals to me.

We’ve been overrun with Coyotes for a long time and they are of no concern to the local dear population to the best of my knowledge.

There’s been a lot of Mountain Lion sightings around here but I’ve yet to capture one on any of my trail cams.

I have seen a lot of Bobcats though, in fact the picture below is only one of I think 4 different animals I’ve seen on the trail cams. Maybe there’s a family of them staying close, I don’t know

Here’s a couple of trail cam pictures you might enjoy.

The first one is a cat crossing my lane at the end of June.

The next one is from the same trail cam where a Coyote walked out of the corn field and there just happened to be a few Turkeys hanging out on the lane at the same time. Bet they picked up the pace after they noticed him!

9 Likes

I keep a camera all year round too Jer. I love seeing all the stuff that come through. here’s a Fat Boy and some of the younguns

4 Likes

Yikes! At least you know to be on high alert 24/7!!! Dang!!!

2 Likes

Hello Kelby,

Did your deer cages stand the test of time? I am considering making a bunch of them as a cheaper alternative to deer fence.

By the way, I have been using those concrete remesh as tomato cages for the past nine years and they are great! I actually double stack them, and my tomato plants typically grow 10-12’ high.

2 Likes

Sorry for the delayed reply, life is busy.

I’ve had a bunch for…4 years? Holding up fine. Rust is building up where they contact the ground, but still sturdy.

3 Likes