When you’re dealing with crows, organza bags are little help. These cages were constructed with 1" welded wire and zip ties.
Caprifig
Warren Pear
Nikita Bordeaux
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Now that’s dedication! Great job
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I think you’ll find that the squirrels can reach into the 1" openings and pull the branch/fruit close enough to be nibbled on. I started out with 1/2" hardware cloth for cages and the squirrels were still getting their little paws in there. I switched to 1/4" hardware cloth and that works pretty well, they can still reach in but not easily or very far… Stabilizing the cage with the metal post keeps the squirrel from ripping the cage/spur off…I use 1/2" metal conduit and wire to secure cages that are higher up. The 1"x1" welded wire I use for fruit tree gopher cages and underground gopher fences.
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Very well done. But every post like this makes me realize that my 1725 sqft, 20,000 cubic foot cage ie greenhouse, was a great idea. I’ve covered thousands of fruits from a multitude of problems for 20+ years.
I’m thinking about cutting down most of my outdoor fruits. The only things that produce regularly are apples and pears. And the birds have already ruined half of those two months before harvest.
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@fruitnut
A greenhouse is overkill in my location. In addition, only a half dozen of our fruiting plants require protection from vermin, chiefly birds. I have built tree cages for most of them. In the case of these fruit cages: I’m not ready to install a tree cage around our Nikita Bordeaux, and neither the Caprifig nor the pear will ever have a tree cage – the protection is solely for this year’s specimens.
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