Caging >100 trees this spring... need advice on saving $$$

Where do you guys buy your caging and posts? How many posts per cage? This stuff is expensive... I’d like to find the cheapest way to do it. I plan on going with 5ft fencing, I’m not really a fan of tubes

Don’t plant so many

In all honesty, this is my approach because the ones I didn’t protect got eaten.

I’m planting my shrubs in bunches so i can use an entire roll of wire to protect 8-10. My silky dogwoods did great this way, trying it with hazelnuts this year. Actual trees need more space and are destined to cost you gobs of time and money. So just plant fewer and take really good care of them. If you half @$$ the protection, they will fail.



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Yep gsquared is right. Less is more. Tubes are simplier but doubt I'd ever buy again. The bears do love them for teething rings tho. Search online you can get tubes at some good prices sometimes. I bought name brand from a manufacturer of them in VA several years ago cheaper than the main company was selling them for. Personally,, I'd do the cages like you said, one T post and 6 feet x 5 ft tall woven wire lasts forever.

I’ve been buying 100ft rolls of 2x4 welded wire (4ft) from Tractor Supply, as they had the best price locally, around $57/roll + tax. Cage sizes would range from 5ft - 10ft, so I was getting up to 20 cages a roll for around $3/cage. Used two metal electric fence posts per cage, but found by checking around that I could get 4 ft sections of rebar for 0.99, so have started using those. So I’m spending around $5 per tree minimum.

Using 4ft fencing instead of 5 ft to save on costs, you can pull the fence up a 1ft in the future as the tree grows. Also, with rebar, you can weave it in between the fence squares and not have to secure it with ties.


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Atwoods will carry above on sale for 44$/roll + tax

Where do you find rebar at that price?

bill

I always have keep my eyes open for free or next to it. I have fence and hardware cloth of all shapes and sizes. Probably more than I can use and paid a total of $40 for. I also have picked up dozens of pieces of 1.25-1.50 galv pipes to use for posts for nothing. Yard sales, town dump, side of the road, and scrap yards, are great scavenging spots.

Got the 0.99 rebar (3/8 x 4ft) (SKU: 7120019) at Atwood’s, actually. I bought mine in Eldorado, AR and they had it at a few others in South AR as well, so I’m guessing it’s available at most. It was located inside on one of the aisles in a rack, not on the outside.

Didn’t know on the welded wire there, will have to check the next time I’m there.


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I just bought 4’x50’ welded wire for $30/roll at menards as the 5’ is close to $40. Going to have to look into the rebar....

I only go 5’ high for fruit trees.


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Like Zeek stated, keep your eyes open and you may find supplies for free. I have found several sections of 5 foot remesh in dumpsters where they are building houses. They are anywhere between 15-50 feet in length. The construction crews just throw the short sections out after they have poured the concrete. Construction dumpsters are also a good source for short sections of rebar.

We use free wood shipping pallets. Four of them screwed together makes a perfect square just about the right size.

Fishman said:

Like Zeek stated, keep your eyes open and you may find supplies for free. I have found several sections of 5 foot remesh in dumpsters where they are building houses. They are anywhere between 15-50 feet in length. The construction crews just throw the short sections out after they have poured the concrete. Construction dumpsters are also a good source for short sections of rebar.

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My wife worked construction out of college for several years. I turned into a mini-hoarder during that time. Construction dumpsters are the Mecca of free stuff for a habitat manager! Haha!