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Bulb cages

14 years ago

Has anybody made their own bulb cages? If so, what did you use and how difficult was it to make? White Flower Farm sells them and Gardener's Supply used to sell them but will send you instructions. I like the looks of their product better. Do you know of any other flower catalog that might sell them already made for you?

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Comments (3)

katob Z6ish, NE Pa
14 years ago
I don't know of any other sources but have made them myself.

Use hardware cloth (that's what the wire fencing is called), you'll need gloves, and something decent to cut the wire with. The shape you cut depends on the cage you want (obviously). I've dealt mostly with voles, so it was enough for me to cut a 6 inch tall strip and use it to line the sides of the planting hole. As long as the top of the fence was slightly exposed, the voles never made the effort to come up and step over.... they kept strictly to the top 2-5 inches of soil or mulch and only went deeper if they utilized a mole tunnel.

Others may have more suggestions, but for squirrels I think a top cover is most important, for gophers and chipmunks you'll need a completely enclosed cage.

When cutting the wire, cut through the centers of the squares. that way the ends can be used to mesh into the connecting piece without gaps.

My final solution was to move to an area where voles and sqirrels are less common. It's so nice to be able to grow a crocus or tulip without making a 2 hour project out of it! LOL
Carla1
14 years ago
I also made my own bulb cages and put them around circular pots (that contain tulip bulbs) using wire fencing and tying it together with something similar to twisty-ties. I put a roof on top of the widest pot and bent the walls together to seal up the top in the smaller pots. The stuff is available at hardware stores. Yes, gloves are necessary because the fencing is sharp, but it's so tight that a squirrel couldn't get in if it tried.
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Tried it, both liquid and the granule stuff. The squirrels/ rabbits were like, "Thank you for the seasoning" and went ahead and ate the stuff anyway. Or they waited for the next rainstorm or after I watered. Whatever the case it didn't work, even after a day of use. I also used cinnamon, both powdered and oil form. That helped with some success. At least until either it rained or the stuff wore off. But being too expensive to apply on a regular basis, didn't help. (But I'll add specifically for this topic, the powdered form of cinnamon did not do anything for bulb planting.) But so far the trick I did mixing like thai hot pepper garlic + Habanero seeds + neem oil and rubbing on/ soaking on approx.. 41 daffodil bulbs seems to be helping. I left one half rotted bulb out with said treatment just to allow them to try one. That one was tried and shredded, but very few others have been dug up since then. But it remains to be seen if it will work in the long run.
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helenh is right, too expensive and the squares are too large. The critters will use their feet to manipulate the bulb closer to the squares in order to eat more. Something I've found that worked well for me over the years is pepper. Sprinkle about a tablespoon of ground pepper around the bulb and mix some in the soil. For longer lasting results, put some pepper corns around the bulb. Tabasco works when putting it on the bulb direct (if you like spicy foods, might taste ok but doesn't last long. There are some commercial squirrel repellents that have an extremely hot and spicy taste that also work very well, too.
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May 2015 and very few lilies have appeared. Terrance you were right. I did not allow for the way lilies grow and have leaves formed and kind of a cauliflower top. Only 5 of 40 bulbs made it all the way through the cage to the surface. The rest were starting to curl around looking for an out. All my research on the Web and my County Extension say mice and voles can get through anything larger than 1/4". So, I cut the tops off the cages and refilled the holes. Hopefully I can enjoy lilies one last year. Maybe I will have stupid voles/mice that keep beating their heads against the side of the cage and not notice the whole top is open. It was a learning experiment. It turned out to be 1 way 'how not to create the light bulb'. I am really bummed that such a large and beautiful part of my garden is gone and cannot be replaced. Well, gave it my best shot!
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calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
14 years ago
There is two materials commonly used for making your own cages. If you only need them to last for a season or two, some soils quickly dissolve the wire, you can use aviary wire. Looks like chicken wire with smaller openings. For longer lasting cages half inch hardware cloth is recommended. The aviary wire is light weight and can be bent around with your fingers. The hardware cloth is better fastened with "hog rings". Buy the hog rings and the hog ring pliers at the hardware store where you buy the hardware cloth. After you have made the first one, take it apart and lay it out flat, using it as a pattern to cut the rest of the wire. Al

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