Kitchen Garden Forum

I have the posts needed to erect some wire supports for soft fruit, such as raspberries and tayberries.

However, I now need to acquire the wire.

An online video I watched suggested using stainless steel electric fence wire, but a visit to my local hardware store drew a blank and all the wire in B&Q appeared either too thin or not long enough.

Can any of you recommend an online supplier of wire I might use?

I'd quite like to know the dimensions of the wire you use, too.

I use galvanised fencing wire that I purchased locally but I don't know exactly what size it is. I haven't got a vernier and trying to measure it with a ruler it looks like 2.5 mm, it is definitely plenty thick enough and probably could be a bit less.
I have purchased chicken wire online and have found Mesh Direct very good. They do both galvanised and stainless wire sold in various combinations of length and thickness, daft as it may seem choosing a length that matches your requirements might be the most economical. https://www.meshdirect.co.uk/tensioning ... ning-wire/
This deal on eBay for 2.5mm galvanised looks reasonable too http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Razor-Wire-Fe ... dN70YxSMzg
Searching turned up another company that I don't know that seems to have good prices for wire and tensioning ratchets https://www.sure-green.com/products/fen ... e-wire.php

Hi Geoff,

Thanks very much indeed. There are some good offers there. I think I will go with 2.5mm tensioning wire, which looks sufficiently robust for the various jobs I need the wire for.

I don't know which of the companies I will choose, although have used Mesh Direct in the past for rabbit fencing, if my memory serves me well.

Regards

Barry

Dear barry,
just found these people on the web; Sure Green, they do galvanised fencing line wire. Seems to be a reasonable buy to me. Another place that will have it is an agricultural supplier or possibly a builders merchant.

One word of advice, use some tie wraps (not too tight as you will want to feed the wire out past them) round the coil to hold it all together and do not under ANY circumstances undo the coil and let go; you WILL regret it. Use three or four tie wraps and move them round to a single place for uncurling purposes and slide them back equidistant for storage of the rest of the coil.
Regards Sally Wright.

Hi Sally,

Thanks for the input.

I found this video: https://youtu.be/BpJM9UX0HDI

It gives a good description of how to erect wire supports for soft fruit. Where would your cable ties/tie wraps be placed in this method?

Regards

Barry

You could try your local fencing firm. Some customers have wire stapled along all the panels to stop thieves lifting up one panel to get in.

I usually drill the poles rather than twisting round. I think the ratchet tensioners are better for thicker wire than the turnbuckles demonstrated. We have all assumed you are growing Summer raspberries, normally grown with a single line of wire and tied in. Autumn fruiting varieties need two parallel lines of wire perhaps a foot or just over apart just to stop them blowing over. In both cases I would start with wires at 2', 3', 4' and 5' with poles going up to 6' just in case they do well and you need another wire.

I do like reading how things are done properly. If I put tensioners on the poles I had bashed in it would probably pull them over. I do put bracing pieces in though so they are quite solid, and I'm still using a roll of galvanised wire my dad left in the hut so no outlay.

I agree with Sally that you have to be very careful dealing with the coiled wire or it can get you

I've just understood what Sally was trying to say!

If I put tensioners on the poles I had bashed in it would probably pull them over.

My fruit cage is very solid so the poles have wires back to the structure above head height to take the tension.

If you can put a timber top rail onto the posts, it stops the end posts from pulling in....but you may need a few extra posts.

When you are putting your bracing pieces in the ground. Put a brick into the hole first, then put your bracing piece on it.

I erected the supporting wire today for my tayberries. I put very large posts into the ground, sinking them in about two foot into heavy clay, so used no cement. They were very sturdy.

But for anybody else going down this route, I woud not suggest using 2.5mm wire. This is simply very stiff and difficult to handle, especially if you are trying to knot or twist it. In the end, I used two sets of pliers to manipulate the wires.

Next time around, I'm going to use 2mm wire and see how that works.

Other than that, the tensioning screws worked fine and I am reasonably pleased with my structure.

The above advice about using cable ties to maintain the roll of wire also came in handy.

So, thanks to everybody who contributed.

PLUMPUDDING wrote:I do like reading how things are done properly. If I put tensioners on the poles I had bashed in it would probably pull them over. I do put bracing pieces in though so they are quite solid, and I'm still using a roll of galvanised wire my dad left in the hut so no outlay.

If you decide to put in supports, put a brick at the bottom of the hole, then put your brace on this. Support will not then move.

Yes I did that Shallotman on the main one. It's a rapidly erected raspberry support in another bit of the garden that is just posts bashed in that's a bit dodgy☺