A tip for beginners on caging fruit trees

[Native Hunter]

Design your cage so that you can easily get in yourself occasionally. You may need to clip suckers or low branches. When your weed mat eventually rots away you will also need to clip off other stuff that may come up at the base of the tree. You may also need to repair or adjust your screen wire for rodent protection at the base of the tree. You may need to add a little dirt later.

There are lots of reasons that you will need to get to your trees. Fix it to where you can do it easily.

I reworked some old cages today and wondered if I was trying to keep a Sherman Tank out instead of deer.

 

[dogdoc]

Always great to learn from someone else's experiences. My cages now look much different then my very first cages. Used 4 t-post on my first ones. Wires up and down the t-posts. Now 1 t-post and a 4ft pvc.

 

[Native Hunter]

Always great to learn from someone else's experiences. My cages now look much different then my very first cages. Used 4 t-post on my first ones. Wires up and down the t-posts. Now 1 t-post and a 4ft pvc.

I'm using 2 electric fence posts now. I set the posts at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock. The opening is at 6 o'clock. That makes it very easy to open and gives some room to work. So far this is working well. A guy could do 10 o'clock and 3 o'clock with the opening at 7 o'clock if he wanted to spread the post a little more.

I also make the opening easy to get apart by just bending 3 wires back.

 

[Buckly]

If you put the posts on the inside of the wire, then it's easy to open the cage and get in you just push apart. I use 4 pieces of conduit with caps on the ends so water doesn't get in and freeze. I just use 2 zip ties to close it. Cheap and easy, just snip off with diagonals and put another on one when done.

 

[Native Hunter]

If you put the posts on the inside of the wire, then it's easy to open the cage and get in you just push apart. I use 4 pieces of conduit with caps on the ends so water doesn't get in and freeze. I just use 2 zip ties to close it. Cheap and easy, just snip off with diagonals and put another on one when done.

Sounds like you have a good system. Lots of different things will work.

 

[Buckly]

The important part as you said, is having a plan to get into the cages for maintenance.

 

[Nebraskaz71]

This topic is spot on, was looking at my trees today in cages thinkn man how am I gonna get in there to prune those branches lol

 

[swat1018]

Shower curtain rings work good to close the fence. A few bends of the wires and they snap off, especially on old cages.

 

[Fish]

I got into a cage today by slipping the pruners through a hole with my left hand, then reaching in with my right hand to grab them.... What a pain. Thanks for the tips.

 

[Native Hunter]

I got into a cage today by slipping the pruners through a hole with my left hand, then reaching in with my right hand to grab them.... What a pain. Thanks for the tips.

Fish, that is really fun when you have some big briers tearing at your ears.

 

[gurgalunas]

I use 16' cattle panels for tree cages. Wire them shut and they are about 5' diameter. They don't need stakes because they are so sturdy, you can probably climb them. Cost is about $20 per tree, but you aren't buying the posts, so it makes cost a little closer to lesser fencing...

 

[DLH]

I'll pass on my little knowledge gained from acquireing wire. If you have anyone in your area that puts up woven wire the farmer will often give the old wire away that's what I just got the last few weeks still was galvanized except the part on the ground. We cut and made 36 cages from that free wire. Also consider contacting people who put up woven wire for a living they often have short pieces left over from jobs that they keep and sell for scrap I did this earlier and got 30 cages worth. I'm considering driving around and looking for others replacing their fences seems like I've seen a lot of that lately.

 

[Stevieray]

Always great to learn from someone else's experiences. My cages now look much different then my very first cages. Used 4 t-post on my first ones. Wires up and down the t-posts. Now 1 t-post and a 4ft pvc.

Can you post a picture of your tree cages?

 

[Stevieray]

If you put the posts on the inside of the wire, then it's easy to open the cage and get in you just push apart. I use 4 pieces of conduit with caps on the ends so water doesn't get in and freeze. I just use 2 zip ties to close it. Cheap and easy, just snip off with diagonals and put another on one when done.

Can you post pictures of your tree cages?

 

[Hunter_Dan]

I've done it a few different ways. I started out with 2 posts and a ~5' diameter woven wire cage. I've also used cattle panels, which are great. Then I started doing micro-cages with woven wire. For these, I just let the lower down limbs get bit off by the deer, but you can access and maintain without having to take the cage off. I have a little write up here: https://plottersedge.com/tree-protection/

The most recent I've seen is taking a piece of fencing and suspending it between 4 posts, horizontally, about 3' off the ground. Then you can still access under and over the fence without removing. I've never done it myself, but here's a picture and one guy's description. https://www.facebook.com/groups/158672684490621/permalink/385748378449716/

 

[buckvelvet]

Its pretty easy for me, lots of deer and we get snow so 60 inch cement wire cage, 1 t post and wala a cage.

 

[1yellowdog]

I use 48' wire mesh bought at Home Deport or Menards with a couple of cheap steel posts 3-5' depending on sales. I use plastic zip ties on attach to posts and close cage. They are cheap, so I clip to get in for maintenance and always have a bag of them around.

 

[g squared 23]

This year was my first attempt at making my own cages. I bought 50 foot by 5 foot tall bails of fencing with 2"x4" gaps. I cut 4 cages out of each of the rolls for a circumference of 12.5 feet, which creates a diameter of just over 4 feet. For the majority I pounded one T post in, and fastened the cage to it with wire. I would like to try the 10 and 2 idea.

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[Chestnut Valley Farms]

I have always used t-post and wire fencing but scooped up some 16' cattle panels on sale for 17.99 for my resent apple planting. They worked out well accompanied with 5x5 weed mats. I will likely do this for all my apples in the future. It will be nice to simply lift up an climb inside for tree matenance.
I will continue to tube pears, chestnuts an oaks!

 

[j-bird]

Design your cage so that you can easily get in yourself occasionally. You may need to clip suckers or low branches. When your weed mat eventually rots away you will also need to clip off other stuff that may come up at the base of the tree. You may also need to repair or adjust your screen wire for rodent protection at the base of the tree. You may need to add a little dirt later.

There are lots of reasons that you will need to get to your trees. Fix it to where you can do it easily.

I reworked some old cages today and wondered if I was trying to keep a Sherman Tank out instead of deer.

That is funny Native - I make my cages small. I am able to reach in thru the cage and reach the trunk of the tree and clip what I need. I like small cages as I feel they promote vertical growth early as anything that sticks out beyond the cage the deer will prune back for me. I make my cages about 5 feet tall so I can reach over the top as needed as well. Once the tree gets above the 5 feet height the deer tend to leave it alone and I can then remove the exclusion cage and simply focus on a much, much smaller diameter cage aimed at simply resisting rubbing and critters eating the bark. Just what I have done in my limited experience with caging trees.