Making my own crop cage

[Anonymous]

Every year the birds (starlings I think) feast on my tomatoes and I'm over it! I was looking at this crop cage from Gardeners:
https://www.gardeners.com/buy/crop-cage-4x8/8596539.html

....but it's a bit too wide to fit in my raised beds. So I was thinking of trying to make something similar on my own with pvc pipes and netting. Has anyone done something like this before? Not sure how to reproduce the roll-up netting panels- netting gets so tangled IME. Would I be better off trying to install zippers in the netting? Would appreciate any advice from someone who's BTDT.

[Anonymous]

Yes. Here is what I do. Pound 4 pieces of rebar in the corners (I think mine are 4ft lengths - whatever, they just need to be tall enough to keep the PVC steady, so a few feet out of the ground. Use a sledgehammer. Then stick 4 pvc pipes over the rebar and connect to 4 more pieces on top with 3way corner connectors. So, a rectangle on top and then 4 posts. Then I use zip ties to attach netting to the sides and trim the excess. Then netting going from the back, over the top and down in two sections. So the front (on a long side) has two pieces of netting coming down like curtains, and I pull them back to get to the tomatoes. I attach with more zip ties on the sides.

This works really well for me for birds, but my tomatoes are in a raised bed that this goes around so I don’t know if it would work for critters. and if you’re careful you can reuse everything except the zip ties. I leave the rebar in the ground. I don’t know if it will eventually rust but so far so good. If the structure were highly visible I would consider painting it or even using copper tubing.

This has held up to normal storms and winds but it hasn’t been through a hurricane or anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Here is what I do. Pound 4 pieces of rebar in the corners (I think mine are 4ft lengths - whatever, they just need to be tall enough to keep the PVC steady, so a few feet out of the ground. Use a sledgehammer. Then stick 4 pvc pipes over the rebar and connect to 4 more pieces on top with 3way corner connectors. So, a rectangle on top and then 4 posts. Then I use zip ties to attach netting to the sides and trim the excess. Then netting going from the back, over the top and down in two sections. So the front (on a long side) has two pieces of netting coming down like curtains, and I pull them back to get to the tomatoes. I attach with more zip ties on the sides.

This works really well for me for birds, but my tomatoes are in a raised bed that this goes around so I don’t know if it would work for critters. and if you’re careful you can reuse everything except the zip ties. I leave the rebar in the ground. I don’t know if it will eventually rust but so far so good. If the structure were highly visible I would consider painting it or even using copper tubing.

This has held up to normal storms and winds but it hasn’t been through a hurricane or anything.

Thank you! I never would have thought of the rebar, that is a great idea. Do you happen to know which specific bird netting you use?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Here is what I do. Pound 4 pieces of rebar in the corners (I think mine are 4ft lengths - whatever, they just need to be tall enough to keep the PVC steady, so a few feet out of the ground. Use a sledgehammer. Then stick 4 pvc pipes over the rebar and connect to 4 more pieces on top with 3way corner connectors. So, a rectangle on top and then 4 posts. Then I use zip ties to attach netting to the sides and trim the excess. Then netting going from the back, over the top and down in two sections. So the front (on a long side) has two pieces of netting coming down like curtains, and I pull them back to get to the tomatoes. I attach with more zip ties on the sides.

This works really well for me for birds, but my tomatoes are in a raised bed that this goes around so I don’t know if it would work for critters. and if you’re careful you can reuse everything except the zip ties. I leave the rebar in the ground. I don’t know if it will eventually rust but so far so good. If the structure were highly visible I would consider painting it or even using copper tubing.

This has held up to normal storms and winds but it hasn’t been through a hurricane or anything.

Thank you! I never would have thought of the rebar, that is a great idea. Do you happen to know which specific bird netting you use?

No, I just bought the standard black bird netting from Amazon.