I use hardware cloth cages to protect my strawberry plants from wildlife. The critters used to steal all of my ripening berries before I could pick them so I made cages to keep them out. It has been working very well so I’m sharing how we built the cages.
This is also a great way to protect ripening pineapples, which are another favorite for the critters to steal.
Here are links to some of the grow bags and fertilizers I have successfully used for strawberries. I am not sponsored by any of these brands, and there are certainly many other products that would work just as well, but these are just the ones I have personally used.
Grow Bags:
2 Gallon Grow Bags (20 Pack): https://amzn.to/3g9gQxl
3 Gallon Grow Bags (20 Pack): https://amzn.to/3S3WtPj
2 Gallon Grow Bags (12 Pack): https://amzn.to/3EJ4Ix3
3 Gallon Grow Bags (12 Pack):https://amzn.to/3rVtkuT
Fertilizers. Note that I have used all of these with my berry plants and sometimes mix them together, but I mainly use the Espoma Berry-tone for the Strawberries. I often will add a small amount of the Down to Earth Acid mix along with the other fertilizers, because strawberries like slightly acidic soil, but I don’t usually use it as the primary fertilizer (mainly because it is expensive and not as well balanced as the others):
Espoma Berry-tone Organic Fertilizer (4-3-4): https://amzn.to/3jlD8dA
Sustane Organic Fertilizer (4-6-4) 20 lb Bag: https://amzn.to/3lztPHJ or
Jobe’s Organic Fertilizer (4-4-4): https://amzn.to/3EdxeV2
Down to Earth All Natural Acid Mix Fertilizer 4-3-6, 5 lb:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PL2Z7PZ?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&th=1&linkCode=sl1&tag=garden05cc-20&linkId=e6ea5a5a314f79abaf6256fe003ababc&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
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Those look great! I need to think about something like this for starting sunflowers, thanks for the idea!
Love it. I built mine with a plastic mesh fence roll I found at Home Depot. No critters have gotten to my green beans 🙂🌱
Great idea! The birds totally ate my
Little blueberries this year! 🙁
Oh that is such a great idea! When I lived in Virginia, we planted blueberry bushes in an old chicken coop yard for the same reason. The old coop was in need of replacing, so we decided to relocate it to a shadier spot. The yard framing was still good and sturdy so we replaced the chicken wire with 1/2 inch hardware cloth planted 3 blueberry bushes as and experiment. First time we ever got more blueberries than the birds at our house! We left the 5 bushes at the edge of the yard for the birds to enjoy and expanded the "blueberry coop" to accommodate 6 bushes. Excellent idea for the strawberries too. 🍓
Hello friend good morning
Please help me with some lime addition to your self-watering soil blend. I'm growing cucumbers. I LOVE the way you explain things!
Where have you been? We have not heard from you.