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| I found something significant at the hardware store yesterday that I wanted to share for anyone interested.
Old story that I'm digging up 80+ roses and surrounding the root bases with handmade gopher cages. But... Upon recommendation to not use 1" chicken netting, I went to 1/2" hardware cloth, 20 gauge. I've price compared at Lowes, Home Depot, Ace, other places - average pricing for 1 roll of 3'x25' hardware cloth = $50. 3'x50' = $90. On average I use 3' x 3 1/2' pieces for each rose. Expense has just been too much. So - I decided to go back to 1", 20 gauge - and double it. Average price for 3' x 50' chicken mesh - $50 - which ends up same as hardware cloth. BUT - I happened to find exactly same fencing (well, almost) - labeled as STUCCO NETTING, in a 3' x 150' roll for $50 (same price as 3'x50' chicken netting - thus can do same work for 1/3 price). The difference - the stucco netting, though still 20 gauge, 1" is actually stronger. Explained by a friend of mine once in the hardware business who said the stucco netting had to pass building code requirements whereas the chicken netting did not. So - in comparing the two manually - you can feel the stucco netting is significantly stiffer / stronger. Good for anyone who has chickens as well - Stucco Netting!!! 31 down, 54 to go, only 2 roses lost so far...seeing light at the end of the tunnel. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Harmony, that's a great tip, thank you! One question, both the hardware cloth and chicken wire are galvanized to resist rust. Is the stucco netting also galvanized? Kim |
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| Kim, I googled stucco wire, and it looks like it is galvanized. Harmony, I don't know where you live, but there are several places in the North Bay Area (Harmony Farm Supply, in Graton, for example) that sell 'real' gopher wire for a better price than you are paying for the hardware cloth: A 100' roll of 3' at HFS is $100. Friedman Brothers also sells it and I've seen a sign at Martin Ranch Supply that they do, but have not compared the price. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Gopher Wire at Harmony Farm Supply
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| Landlady - that really does look like the best option. When I run out of the stucco netting, I'll find some of the Diggers 3/4"x3'x100'. Nice stuff. Thank you for the info. |
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| I'm coming late to this thread but I have also just discovered stucco netting, and the roll I was given is 17 gauge wire which is very strong. Removing the paper isn't hard, but the problem is that the mesh aperture is 1 1/2 to 2" which is way too large for gopher control. Has anyone found stucco netting with smaller holes? John |
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| Yes, don't buy that! Keep looking - here both Lowes and Home Depot (most of the time) have the 20 gauge 1" netting. And usually it's mixed in with what you found, and you have to look through each roll to find the right one. |
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| Thank you!!! I have been battling the rabbits and I bought one 25ft. roll of the chicken wire and enclosed some of the minis (which helped) but, like you said, it's SO expensive! I need at least 100 feet to enclose my whole bed. I just couldn't afford it. I was going to buy a roll here or there as I could put the money together but this stucco netting sounds perfect! And one roll should do the whole bed and then some. |
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| I bought a 150' roll of Davis(made in USA) stucco wire and even though it's the same gauge as regular chicken wire, it's much cheaper ($46 at Home Depot), feels stronger and heavier, and lays down flat without trying to roll itself back up...ever tried to unroll a roll of regular chicken wire? It's a frustrating battle in itself, and you usually end up with a few bloody knicks on your arms. The stucco wire stays flat on the ground as you unroll it, perhaps a sign of heavier and stronger wire. There's another advantage: with regular chicken wire the 1" mesh actually measures 1 1/2" across the hole. That's iffy for keeping out gophers. The Davis stucco wire measures 1" across on each hole, and they are all the same, and hold their shape because of the stronger wire. So it would be much more feasible to use to make cages for your fruit trees and rose bushes. The so-called gopher wire(sold online) seems mostly to be regular cheap chinese made chicken wire with a 3/4" mesh. You can go onto a chinese export website, such as alibaba.com and there are many manufacturers offering it. Given the imprecision of the 1" mesh chinese chicken wire, I wouldn't be surprised that the 3/4" mesh is larger than 3/4" at the hole. Meaning that the 1" mesh stucco wire might have a similar size hole and have the advantage of lower price and stronger wire. Finally, for the first time, I recently saw that Orchard Supply Hardware is carrying what I think is the ultimate for making gopher cages: 1" welded wire rolls, and even 1/2"x1" welded wire rolls. It looks like 16 gauge wire, but the finish looks real cheap (chinese?). However, they are selling for prices so high that few will ever use it for this use (about $300 for a 100 ft roll, 36" high). |
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| I'd like to delete this message reply, but there's no way to do it, so please just ignore it and the one below also. |
This post was edited by jbclem on Sat, May 4, 13 at 0:39
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| ignore this message |
This post was edited by jbclem on Sat, May 4, 13 at 0:36
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