When you plant trees, shrubs, bushes, and more, in your lawn or garden, it is vital to ensure they are well-protected from animals and environmental factors. Dogs, cats, coyotes, and many other stray or wild animals can trespass into your garden and destroy the plants you planted. Similarly, wind and storms can also cause damage by uprooting the plants you have been growing with utmost care. Therefore, you need to use a barrier to prevent uprooting or safeguard your garden against damages from trampling. And, if the protector can reduce weather damage like frost or heavy rain by any chance, it will be the cherry on top of the cake. So, to help you save your wonderful garden or lawn setting and keep the plants healthy and intact, we have rounded out the leading plant protectors in 2023.
Decorating the planters, installing deck lights, or designing a theme-based landscape aren’t the only duties you must fulfill as a garden lover. You can do landscape decorations and arrangements at any moment. But if the plants don’t bear fruits or flowers or the leaves are half-eaten, no garden or lawn décor can make it look fresh, vibrant, and full of life.
Hence, you should get a protective cover for your garden plants. These covers come in various shapes, sizes, and forms. But they all serve the same purpose — safeguarding your plants from any damage and boosting their healthy growth. As there are multiple guards available, choosing the best plant protector can be exhausting and intimidating. Bearing that in mind, we have introduced a few factors you must consider to make the best buying decision.
There are three most sought-after types of plant protectors that you can find in the market. Their differences are mainly based on structure and form.
These guards have a similar structure to a grid mesh and are made from steel or plastic material. That’s why they are robust, sturdy, and can withstand harsh weather conditions.
From the name itself, you can understand that these protectors have a bell jar shape where the wide mouth will sit on the soil, and the top will have vents for air circulation. They have a transparent body, just like the glass jars.
These blankets are formed using thick fabric. You need to use them as a shed and cover the plants. You should only get these products for the winter season if you usually experience frost.
Firstly, you have to consider its length based on the height of the plants you want to protect. Similarly, while measuring the width, you have to check the thickness of the plant’s stem or the total circumference of any bush or hedge you want to protect. Once you obtain a rough idea of the dimensions of your plants, it will become much easier for you to pick a suitable protector.
Most cage-styled plant protectors are designed to be adjusted to protect multiple plants with different widths and heights. For example, protectors made from plastic material can be adjusted to cover plants with varying widths. On the other hand, in some products, you will find multiple panels that can be attached to obtain a tall cage or a wide protective covering.
It would help if you always compared different plant protectors based on their performance. Firstly, you must check whether the guard is limiting the availability of natural factors (air, water, and sunlight) or not since these are needed for germination and growth. Also, if you are interested in buying the bell jar protectors, then make sure they have transparent walls that will allow the UV radiations to penetrate and reach the plant cells. Another major aspect that defines the level of performance is the protection ability. You need to look for a product that can provide safety against pests, animals, birds, and even the weather.
Since you will have different plants in your garden or lawn, you have to decide which particular product will be suitable for them. For example, the cage-styled guards are ideal for tall or thicker plants. But for protecting the younger plants or seedlings, you should get the bell jar or cloche protectors.
The plant protectors usually come at affordable prices, starting from $14.99 to $21.99. However, as these products come in packages, you will get multiple units at a set price. For example, if you buy a bell-jar cloche plant protector whose price is $21.99 and there are five units, a single guard will cost around $4.40. You will be having value for money. Also, the price will vary according to the type of plant protector you want to buy. Blankets are less priced, while the cloche-styled protectors usually have a higher price range.
This protective cage will be your companion in maintaining the plants’ health and saving them from any damage. It is manufactured from flexible and strong resin plastic, so you can adjust the cage around different plants like newly planted saplings, flower stems, and berry bushes. This product comes with four stakes to help you anchor the guard’s frame to the ground. It will remain rooted in the soil regardless of how harsh and stubborn the weather is.
In addition, this product comes as a pack of three cages, each having a wide grid design. Once you anchor these cages around the plants, the grid will prevent animals from eating the leaves or destroying the flowers and vegetables. As a result, the plants can get proper sunlight, water, and oxygen for healthy growth. Using this protector, you can even provide ultimate protection from mowing and gardening equipment to both young and mature plants.
This bell-shaped plant guard is made from PVC plastic that will allow you to decorate your lawn or garden while providing the ultimate protection for many seasons. Hence, there is no need to buy a new protector every season. The best part about this bell-shaped cover is that it can protect several types of plants from frost and harsh winter. It can even prevent slugs, pests, and birds from damaging the plants. So, your garden or lawn will retain its beauty throughout the year.
This cloche protector has two rotating vents at the top for making sure that air and moisture can circulate freely. Furthermore, its transparent and clean wall will allow UV lights to pass through and help plants in photosynthesis. As a result, the seedlings will germinate quickly while the plants will start bearing fruits, vegetables, or flowers at the right time.
Using this guard, you can easily protect young plants still in the growing phase, like alpine plants, flower beds, and salad crops. Hence, it is one of the most versatile plant guards you can get from the market that will help you protect your garden plants from bad and harsh weather, stray animals, and pests like rodents, mice, and more. It has a glass bell jar shape that will help you decorate the landscape.
Besides, its dome is transparent and clean, owing to vacuum-formed APET plastic as raw material. Thus, it allows maximum UV radiations to penetrate the walls and reduce their reflection so that the plants thrive without delays. In addition, it has a vented top for allowing easy air and humidity control for better plants’ health. For anchoring this gardening plant protector to the soil, you can use the ground pegs to make sure the bell jar is in place.
This plant protector has a unique design since it doesn’t have any jar or cage-like guard. Instead, it’s a thick blanket that needs to be installed like a shed over the garden. You can use it for protecting both vegetable and ornamental plants like flower stems, bushes, and even the smaller plants from frost and cold winter climate. As soon as the outdoor temperature decreases close to the frost or freezing weather conditions, you can spread this blanket like a thick canvas and prevent the coldness and harshness of the climate from destroying the plants.
Besides, you can secure this blanket by tying the lower ends to some large trees or using the staples and pins to anchor it to the ground. One of the salient features of this protective guard is that it will allow the UV radiations to enter through the fabric pores. Hence, the plants will be able to make their food via photosynthesis and stay healthy.
This affordable plant protector will help you protect the young plants from various destructive elements/factors like weed eaters, squirrels, stray and wild cats, rabbits, dogs, rodents, and more. Apart from these, the guard can also keep the plants safe from the wrong use of gardening and mowing devices, intense and scorching sun rays, etc. Hence, all your garden or lawn plants can grow much faster than expected.
The primary feature which makes this plant guard different and unique from others is the availability of additional panels. If you want a tall or a wide guard, all you have to do is connect these panels and get the proper shape. For closing the cage, you have to use the tabs that further make the installation process swifter and easier. On top of everything, it can also protect orchard trees and grapevines as each guard is 15 inches tall. You can attain a maximum height of 45 inches by connecting all three units.
A: Yes, you can use the bell jar-shaped plant protector for the potted plants. But before doing so, you have to consider two main aspects. Firstly, you have to ensure that the plant you want to protect has a smaller height than the bell jar. Secondly, the jar's wide opening should sit on the soil kept inside the pots.
A: No, it's not a hard and fast rule. But if your garden has rodents, pests, or burrowing living organisms, using the protector will help prevent any damage to the seeds. The seeds will germinate faster and grow healthily.
A: No, you cannot use the blanket protectors throughout the year because their fabric is made from thick material that will save the plants from dying in the winter season. Furthermore, they can trap the heat inside to keep the plantings and young plants warm. So, if you use this protector in the summer season, the plants will suffer damage due to excess heat.
A: The plant protectors need to be anchored to the ground to become stable and withstand harsh weather conditions. But you cannot use the nails or pins for anchoring if the soil is hard or has a rocky texture. You have to water the land frequently to make it moist enough to drive the nails or pins into the ground.
