A simple 'hut' to protect seedlings

Discussion in 'Designing, building, making and powering your life' started by Mirrabooka, May 4, 2014.

  1. Mirrabooka

    Mirrabooka Junior Member

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    Recently I have taken up the hair brained idea of growing avocado trees from seed to graft known scion wood onto, given the conventional avocado groves around us on the Mornington Peninsula where I am based seem very productive. As usual for this novice, unforeseen circumstances arose, this time in the form of bush rats or possums grazing on the leaves of my sprouting avocado seeds, stripping any hint of chlorophyll from the plants, leaving only a few sad heartbreaking twigs remaining. I decide to 'make the problem into the solution' and start trapping bush rats and possums and eating them instead of the avocados....no,...only kidding...

    What I did do was to use Graham Brookman's (The Food Forest, Gawler) orchard netting technique and build a rat and possum proof 'shed' from 4 star pickets, two 10 metre lengths of irrigation poly slipped over the ends of the installed star pickets, to produce the 'frame' for the shed, gaffer tape the point where the irrigation poly frames cross at the 'ceiling' of the hut, and drag a 10 metre x 10 metre piece of low cost bird netting over the 'frame' then using bricks, timber, etc around the base of structure to hold netting on the ground, to stop the wildlife. In hot weather I have slung a cheap poly tarp within the 'hut' by poly rope from the irrigation poly frame, for shade, got an old bath to collect the water from the pots now sitting on wire mesh above the bath, which I collect then recycle through a small water barrel.

    The avocado seedlings, and my other seedlings, are now thriving, awaiting grafting when I find the time.
     

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  2. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    Nice work. I reckon you could write a book on the many uses of star pickets and poly pipe in a rural setting.
     

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