Making cages to keep animals away from plants

I have been asked numerous times recently how to make cages to keep animals from eating plants when they are put out. As it's hard to explain without pictures, I took some time to put together a tutorial on how I do them.

All you really need is a roll of chicken wire, a pair of wire cutters, a tape measure, a rock and some green stakes for securing them.



What I do first is roll out 30 inches of wire and secure it, and cut through it all the way across. I use a 2ft roll as it is easiest to control. You can use a 4 ft roll, but it is bulky. Depending on the area that you live in, your cages may be up to 4 feet in heighth, depending on food availability. If you use four foot or taller cages you should cut the wire at 40 inches to have a wider base.



Next, you will want to let the wire go into a circle and turn the cut ends of the wire to fasten them together. Notice how the cut ends cross each other and are easy to twist together.




This is what it will look like.




Because I want only 12 inch screens I will cut this in half. It could be left as it is if you have taller plants and need a 2 foot screen.





You now have a screen with a smooth edge and an end that has been cut. You want to put the smooth end down on the ground. Take notice of where I bend outward, sections of the bottom so I have a place to put stakes through to hold the screen in place.




You can now put your plant into the ground, put the screen over it and push the sticks through the tabs you made to hold the screen into place. I usually use 4 sticks and put them through at an angle. If you were using a 4 foot screen, you would want at least six holding the base in place.





The last step is to close the top of the screen and make sure the cut pieces of wire are pointing upward. This will prick the noses of deer and other animals that get curious and decide to sample the taste of the plants. This is why we put the "factory" edge down and the "cut" end up.







Deer do not see well, but they have good memories. They will get pricked, but they will remember and leave them alone. They may stomp them in anger at times, but most times you can just straighten the screens and they will continue to grow into nice plants. When the plant starts getting to tall, you will have to return and open the screen to let the plant out. By this time there is usually enough native food in my area that they will leave your plants alone.

Not an outdoor grower myself but good write-up, it's a convenient way to deal with hungry deer. I usually have to put moth balls around my tomato plants.

thats the same way i start them off JJ, although i spray paint them green and brown for some extra camo.......peace

JJScorpio said:

...When the plant starts getting to tall, you will have to return and open the screen to let the plant out. By this time there is usually enough native food that they will leave your plants alone.

Click to expand...

North American growers on the west side of the Rocky mountains probably should provide taller cages, further into the season. My cages are at least 4 feet tall!

Where I live, the worst of the Deer damage would occur mid-season when the rains stop and the Deers natural foods start to wither, I suppose back east Deer food availablity gets better going into summer because of the increased warm sunny weather?

No offence to the eastern growers(PS420 and JJscorpio), but the rules are different out west, and I wouldn't want western growers to get confused when it comes to regional advise like this.

I wrote my thread on Deer protection for this very reason, because it really is a regional issue, what may be the rule in New York, Georgia, and Ohio isn't going to be the same in Oregon, California, and Nevada.

Here is the part of my thread titled "Protecting your plants from Deer" that concerns Cages and fences-

Protecting your plants with fences/cages
By far the most effective way to protect your plants is to build a a fence. Chicken wire(Also known as Poultry netting or fencing) is the material used most often by Cannabis growers.






I use Chicken wire rolled into a ring, and attached to itself, it can free stand on its own to some extent, but I usually secure it to surrounding bushes or trees, I can lift the ring off the plant if I need close access. Secured tightly to the ground, it should also protect from Rabbits.






Some folks use posts(made from wood native to the area) to secure their wire, or run it between surounding trees or bushes, using them to fasten the wire.

If you use a ring to surround your plants, allow extra slack wire so the ring can be expanded as the plant grows through the season. Also keep in mind you may need to add wire to raise the level of the ring as the plants grow taller, wire can be attached by breaking the ring, laying it flat on the ground and adding a new layer of wire that overlaps the original and securly attached. The ring can then be rolled up again, and put back in place.

A alternative to wire is plastic netting, usually sold as deer netting or bird netting. Netting will not bear its own weight, so it will need to be attached securly to something. It will also need to be fairly taunt to be effective, this will also reduce the chances a deer will become snagged in it, and destroy it. Keep in mind this netting is light duty, and could become snagged in a Deers antlers, destroying it.

Shiny wire
Its important to make sure the wire you use is not shiny, as most new wire is. Sometimes wire pre-coated with paint can be purchased. My wire is old and rusted by time, but most people don't have 20 year old rolls laying around.
Some folks paint their wire, either with spray paint or by dipping their wire in paint. Some folks soak their wire in various acids to quickly weather them.
One of the best quick weathering methods I have seen involves placing your roll of wire in a fire, this will quickly deaden the shine.

Yet another method(If Rabbits aren't a concern), is to plant in a thick patch of thorns, it is possible to use the vines in such a way that the Deer will loose interest in entering the thicket. Keep a eye out, natural fences do exist.

Here is a link to the rest of this thread- Protecting your plants from Deer

i understand BC i take no offense as the deers are bigger and there food goes when it starts to get hot as hell! , we get nice rains all thru the spring and summer and where i live i barely ever have a drought

love thread JJ , even though i pointed out cages and what not in the pest and insect guide

BackCountry, I thought it was fairly clear when I stated "You can use a 4 ft roll, but it is bulky". I have now edited the next sentence to make it clearer. I didn't intend to tell anyone they needed only a 2 or 4 foot screen. The purpose of the thread was to show growers how to assemble and fasten them to the ground. It's their decision on the height that makes them comfortable. I used to use 4 foot screens, but I found I lost more plants with deer walking and running over them and tearing the plant, then if the deer just runs through the plant.

I don't mean any offense JJ, but as a Westerner I feel the need to make sure my fellow west coast growers know that Deer are more agressive than Eastern growers are used to. This is a very important issue for me.
Hell, I've had plants with buds eaten down to stems, I always watch my plants for damage even to the end of the season, cuz I may need to make the fence even taller than 4'.

All is good. I should have been a little clearer on the different heights.......

I think this is a great addition to the sticky area!

I think all growers should consider using a cage at least in the first month or two out, and be ready to make it bigger if Deer show more hunger in your region.

Don't the western deer tear the big screens apart when they go into velvet? Years ago I had an awful problem with bucks scraping their horns on the screens. I had one area where they destroyed half a dozen.

No, I have not had this problem, but there are tons of scrub bushes and trees about to use first. Plus I usually don't have my plants in "open" areas, usually my plants are placed in areas with a bush of some kind on the north side(to help hide the plant, and to anchor the wire cage), there is no visable room behind the plant so the Deer seem to regard it all as a impassable area.

I could see how Deer running over cages and plants may be a problem if the plants were standing alone in a open area. I tend to associate my plantings with native bushes to help conceal them, and also to add strength to my fences and cages, sometimes I only use wire to close off the open end of a natural fence of thorn bushes, and sometimes I use only bushes(especially thorns) as natural fences.

In these plots from 2005, the plants are placed with thick bushes on the north(dark side) of the plants, the area around the plants on all sides are somewhat brushy, and not easy for any creature to run through, although the brush is low enough on the sunny sides to allow light to hit the plants.

This plant has a thick tree on its north side, a chicken wire fence is strung around it using the tree in the rear and some low bushes in front as anchors for the fence-


This plant has a cage that achors to the bush behind the plant-

The cage was removed in this pic-


In this plot from 2005, I use a tall fence only on the north side because the east, west, and south side are impassible for Deer due to thick berry vines(I did use a short fence on the south side to help with training).

JJ- Great thread. I'm going to document how I do my cages for those growing in containers outdoors. Should be a few more days. It's very similar with a couple twists.

Mind if I post the info/pics here in your thread?

Peace-

Dig

Dignan said:

JJ- Great thread. I'm going to document how I do my cages for those growing in containers outdoors. Should be a few more days. It's very similar with a couple twists.

Mind if I post the info/pics here in your thread?

Peace-

Dig

Click to expand...

Feel free to show your technique. It's what it's all about.

Okay, here’s my little guerrilla cage tutorial.

This is an application for growing outdoors in containers, for those of us who are forced to do so for whatever reason. (My reason is that the ground here is 4" of sand, then below that 8" of sand with 6" chunks of granite, and then solid granite 12-18" underground. Digging would require a pick-axe, at best, and that’s not very stealthy. So, containers it is. I’m using 12-gallon nursery pots.)

Anything and everything will eat my plants where I am: deer, wild pigs, squirrels, chipmunks, pica, birds, grasshoppers, slugs... we have ‘em all, and the area is very arid, so they'll do just about anything to eat some tender greens. Thus, I’ve devised this full-on guerrilla cage, completely enclosing the plants until they’re about 3.5' tall, at which time I can open up the top of the cage and allow them to grow out the top.

First, I get some seedlings ready, LOL:




Then, I gather a few supplies:

- My outdoor soil that’s been cooking for a couple months in its pot (the one in the pic is actually a 15-gallon [or more], being used for my Guerilla Golds... all the other plants are in 12-gallons, but those are already out in the forest).
- Stakes of your choice. I prefer the 4' tall redwood stakes, but those green bamboo are fine, too. Just not as stout in the event a deer or other large animal decides to get belligerent with your plants.
- 1/2" hardware cloth (4' tall). You can use chicken wire, too, but I find the hardware cloth easier to work with AND last year I used chicken wire and something (dunno what) got through it and ate several 6" seedlings down to the dirt! The hardware cloth is a little spendy but so is cannabis at street prices.
- Tin snips
- Twist ties

(The burlap pictured is for another step I don’t include in this tutorial.)



Now, place 3 stakes in your pot. If you anticipate deer, etc. getting rough with your goods, might wanna use one more stake. Drive them all the way to the bottoms. You want a good anchor.




Put on some gloves so the hardware cloth doesn’t cut you to shreds and then cut a length of hardware cloth the same circumference as the rim of the pot. Twist tie one end securely to one stake, run the hardware cloth all the way around and then twist tie the other end to the same stake securely.

Notice that the stakes don’t go to the top of the hardware cloth... that’s necessary for us to later make the top of the cage.

Tip: when you cut the hardware cloth, bend the cut end over so the pointy jagged edges aren’t so dangerous and don’t get caught on everything, like your shirt/jacket/pants/face.




Twist-tied securely.



Now, go around the top edge of your cage and cut down about ½ the diameter of your pot. Do this in 4-6 places, evenly spaced. The photo should explain it better than I can. You are essentially cutting “tabs” that you will then fold inward like the flaps on a cardboard box to form the top of the cage, making it fully enclosed.

It goes without saying that you want to do this AFTER placing your seedlings inside and mulching the soil surface well. Later, even if you unfasten the twist ties in the top and open it up, the cage is too deep for you to reach down to the soil to plant seedlings, unless you have arms like an orangutan.

Note: the “tabs” in this pic are a bit mangled because this photo was taken while I was disassembling this guerrilla cage.




Bend the tabs in one at a time, working your way around.




Use twist ties to fasten the tabs together at the top... Find a spot where three tabs converge and tie there. You should only need to twist tie 3 or 4 spots.




Voila! Done. A nearly impenetrable force, yet still about 3'6" height inside the cage for the plant to get nice and big before opening it up and letting the plant grow to full size.




Another note: I paint my chicken wire/hardware cloth, which was a tip I gleaned from someone over at AN forums... I forget who. I’ve tried a few different ways... flat black, light brown, dark brown, light green... a combination of all those colors to make “camo.” IME, nothing beats solid flat black. The wire becomes damn near invisible in most applications.

I was out of paint when I built this cage, so I couldn’t show you, but you’ll be able to see how great the flat black paint works when I post updates to my outdoor grow in a couple months. I have cut/built my cages at home this year... I built one and then disassembled it, cut hardware cloth to match, enough to outfit all my other pots in the forest, then paint it black and roll it up. Very easy to haul out into the forest.

My situation is unique (high altitude, pine forest/desert) , so I have some concerns that most don't so much (water, critters, hail, unpredictable mountain weather) and also don't have to worry about some things others do (plenty of intense sunlight and mold? What's mold? ) There aren’t many here at ICMag growing in containers outdoors, but I hope this helps someone.

Dignan

BACKCOUNTRY said:

North American growers on the west side of the Rocky mountains probably should provide taller cages, further into the season. My cages are at least 4 feet tall!

Where I live, the worst of the Deer damage would occur mid-season when the rains stop and the Deers natural foods start to wither, I suppose back east Deer food availablity gets better going into summer because of the increased warm sunny weather?

No offence to the eastern growers(PS420 and JJscorpio), but the rules are different out west, and I wouldn't want western growers to get confused when it comes to regional advise like this.

I wrote my thread on Deer protection for this very reason, because it really is a regional issue, what may be the rule in New York, Georgia, and Ohio isn't going to be the same in Oregon, California, and Nevada.

Click to expand...

deer around my parts get extremely desperate for food and water over the summer. You see more deer during the hot months because they are searching for water in the lower elevations because the mountainous sources will have dried up by July. Very good point to bring up backcountry, you are a crritical thinker

note: I am at a 37 N.

Also...
Dignan, I wanted to paint my cages as well, do you use normal spray paint, or ?

By the way... I am one of those few people growing in containers outdoors. This DEF HELPS!!!

elevate said:

Also...
Dignan, I wanted to paint my cages as well, do you use normal spray paint, or ?

Click to expand...

So far, I've just grabbed out of the garage or from the hardware store shelves whatever is free/cheap. I don't think the type of paint is critical, as long as it's black.

Dignan-Thats a great write up! That cage would be great for dealing with rats, and other rodents that can squeeze through Chicken wire.

BACKCOUNTRY said:

Dignan-Thats a great write up! That cage would be great for dealing with rats, and other rodents that can squeeze through Chicken wire.

Click to expand...

And maybe you could plant a couple small insect-repelling companion plants on the inside of the cage too. To keep away the insects that can get through the holes.

Plastic garden fence mesh does not work, the vermin chewed right through it, at the bottom of the plastic fence barrier, made holes in the fence and ate all the weeds, did not even leave a stem, I did find a few spots where they actually dug down into the soil in the pot, bastards!

this thread is great, it address one of the important parts of outdoor growing, thank you all.

thanks for the great info everyone.
I'm taking my first shot at the great outdoors this season.
We have every critter imaginable around here.
this should help alot.