About three years ago we planted a small redcurrant bush in the garden. It had been given to us by a family member as a small cutting. For the last two years we’ve been teased by a huge crop of juicy redcurrants that we’ve been about to pick only to be beaten to the fruit by the local wildlife. The main suspects in this currant crime are the over weight pigeons that tend to pilfer half of the bird feed we leave out.
This year I’m determined to outwit the pigeons and ensure we get to enjoy the glut of red currants we should have every summer. I don’t really have the space or inclination for a large, expensive fruit cage with aluminum frame so instead started researching cheaper, more DIY approaches.
After much searching I found these excellent Figo Cane connectors. They are soft rubber connectors that allow you to easily connect standard bamboo canes together. Their real advantage compared to other similar products I found is that they allow you to easily connect canes with quite differing thicknesses.
Once the connectors arrived the cage was quickly built by forming a square roughly a bit larger than the foot print of the bush. Next I simply cut the four vertical canes to size, pushed them into the ground and connected the square ‘top’. Next I simply wrapped the cage in netting and made some improvised pegs from metal wire in order to stop the birds from creeping under the net.
Finally I secured the netting to the canes with some cable ties. Time will tell but the cage looks very secure, has a slim profile so it should survive strong wind and most importantly I see no reason how any pesky pigeons will be able to get at our precious red currants.
