Mainframe Crop Protection System
Mainframes are plant protection cage systems for growing fruit and vegetables.
Mainframes are plant protection cage systems for growing fruit and vegetables.
The mainframe is a modular system designed for crop protection and other garden usage. It’s a flexible system which you can adapt to suit your needs. Some potential uses include:
Walk-in fruit cages
Garden cloches
2ft Strawberry cages
Raised bed covers
Pond covers
Fleece frames
Pet and chicken runs
A mini polytunnel-type structure for seedlings
The mainframe can be quickly assembled and disassembled, allowing for adaptability in the garden. Using a system of thick walled aluminium poles and hammer-in connectors, you can set up structures with a range of different sizes. We supply all the connections and pegs you need, as well as coverings to place over the frame.
Benefits of Mainframe Crop Protection
Ripening fruit is naturally a magnet for birds. A mainframe structure can protect your fruit crops and discourage foragers.
Benefits heavy fruiting plants, such as tomatoes, cucumbers and melons.
A suitable structure can provide healthy airflow as well as protection, reducing the chance of fungal disease and excessive humidity.
A mainframe with the appropriate covering can protect your crops from garden pests, such as carrot root fly or cabbage root fly.
The structure can also protect against heavy winds and rain.
Depending on the covering that you use, the mainframe system can provide a more controlled growing environment, regulating temperature and humidity levels.
Mainframe Covers
Our fruit cage starter kits come complete with knitted green netting for plant protection. You can also attach other coverings, such as garden fleece or polythene. Netting clips also come with the starter kits, while we supply packs of clips for custom mainframes you can build yourself. These clips make it very easy to attach or to switch out your chosen covering or netting. You can work section by section, removing small areas of the cover as you make your way down your fruit or vegetable bed.
Mesh or bird netting can be used to keep birds and other garden foragers away from your ripening fruit or vegetable crops. The small gauge design discourages birds without harming them. Mesh holes of 20mm are an optimum size for preventing small birds from getting entangled in the netting. Micromesh can also be attached to your frame to help prevent small insects from having a munch.
Uses for the Mainframe Plant Protection System
A key benefit of the modular mainframe system is its versatility. The system can be adapted to create the perfect size of frame for your garden needs. A structure can be erected to cover one or two plants or a low-lying fruit bush in the garden. Alternatively you can cover a wider area of vegetable crops, with plenty of space for vertical growth. Taller fruit cage or crop protection structures enable you to work easily within the cage, whether you’re harvesting, pruning, weeding or tending to your plants. They also allow fruit bushes, tall trees or climbing plants to reach their full height with little or no obstruction.
How To Set Up the Mainframe Crop Protection System
The mainframe plant protection system is durable and long-lasting. The aluminium tubing is rust-proof, while the connectors are UV-stabilised. The connectors should be hammered in rather than twisted: this can be done with various blunt objects you have lying around the garden. It’s recommended to mound up soil along the bottom edges of the mainframe covering. The extra soil cover will further discourage the entry of garden ‘pests’.
You can also make an easy access door for your mainframe structure, with our Mainframe Door Kit which contains all the fittings that you will need.
It’s recommended to dismantle mainframe kits for winter and store them inside. For year-round crop protection usage we recommend our Heavy Duty fruit cages as well as products such as timber cold frames.