Protect crops from pests

Invest in a fruit cage and get your reward with higher yields

If you’re a keen fruit grower, or want to add a tasty range of fruits to your plot, it’s worth considering a nigh-on essential piece of equipment – a fruit cage.

Whether you’ve a large or small plot, the varying sizes of cages available enables you to produce higher yields of crops due to the protection they afford from large pests who nibble any fruit they can find. Deer, rabbits and pigeons are the usual culprits.

It’s fruit-ripening season, so currants, cherries, raspberries, gooseberries and strawberries all are ripe for picking, but need protecting. You can either get a very fine mesh net on a steel frame (cage) with a removable roof to allow access to pollinators at flowering time, or invest in a mesh that has holes of around 3cm (1¼in) wide so bees and other pollinators can enter to pollinate your fruit, but, crucially, no pests!

There are a number of retailers online, some more pricey than others. Garden centres and nurseries are good sources and may be able to advise as to the best size and material for your project.

You can, of course, buy some fruit cage netting (try www.wmjames.co.uk, tel: 01308 425100) and make your own construction from wooden supports, tightly secured with the net. A typical height is 2m (6½ft), so you can freely walk around inside, though smaller crops won’t need this.

Gravel boards or chicken wire buried underground (as with chicken coops) will help to keep out digging rabbits.

As for the worst affected fruit, blueberries, whitecurrants and redcurrants are usually loved the most by discerning nibblers as they’re the sweetest, but they like other fruit such as gooseberries and blackcurrants, too.