Abstract: A wire basket for holding the root system of a plant in a ball of earth has a continuous wire strand aligned to form a tubular grid consisting of a plurality of longitudinally oriented bight strands, and a plurality of helical coils of the wire strand laid about the tubular grid, the crossing points of the bights and the coils being welded. The wire basket is made from a continuous wire strand by laying the strand in a series of back and forth bights aligned in the form of a tubular cage open at both ends, helically coiling the wire across the bights to form a continuous helical wrap, and welding the wire at the crossing points. The basket is formed on a collapsible mandrel having a central shaft, a hub member mounted on one end thereof, and a plurality of radial arms pivotally connected at one end to hub member and circumferentially spaced around the shaft, the arms being adapted to be swung toward and away from the shaft, and to be held at regulatable angles relative to the shaft.