[suziequeue]

I have just planted out some spring cabbage and have made some little collars to go around the bottom but the book I was reading suggests netting them now against all sorts.

I am a little reluctant to go down the hoops and mesh route as I seem to remember a couple of years ago things got very fetid in there over the winter.

Is hoop and mesh really necessary at this time of year? and if so - what size mesh can I get away with? (largest holes possible) and could I take it down over the winter?

Any advice/experience would be gratefully received.

[Carse Goodlifers]

The mesh/netting for the winter period is really to keep the pigeons off as they will eat away at brassicas.
If they are small plants then I would put a net over them.  Netting size - min of an inch square I would think would do the job.  Just keep the net a good foot-1.5 feet away from the plants (more so at the side of them).  It really depends what you have available.

Just be aware that if we got snow this winter, then the smaller the net size the more likely the snow is to bring the net down on top of the veg - then the pigeons will land on it.

The collars that you spoke about I assume are for cabbage root fly?
I tried them one year when we had the allotment but after that I never went back to them.  I just planted the plantlet deeper than normal - buried half the first set of leaves on the stem and never had a problem with the fly.
However, I do appreciate that every location is different to pest pressures.

[Possum]

Unless you are very good at keeping pigeons away you will need to net brassicas. A fairly large mesh should be OK over winter as (hopefully) the cabbage white butterfly shouldn't be too active.


The other thing to think about is slugs. I planted out some young cabbages last week and a lot of them have been badly shredded. I have just covered them up with old plastic bottles. Hopefully they will recover.

[Mammyshaz]

I don't do anything other than plant them. The cat keeps the birds away and they seem to recover well from slugs compared to summer, although this year I'm going to go on a slug hunt as the baby cabbages are being hammered.  We let the hens scratt about once the plants are bigger in the new year and this keep down pests ready for the harvest. The hens peck at the outer leaves which we would discard anyway.

[Lesley Silvester]

My brassicas are netted at the moment but they are so big that they are pushing the nets up so I need to remove nets. Are the pigeons likely to damage older plants?

[Carse Goodlifers]

Pigeons will still damage older plants - it really depends on how hungry they are and what the weather conditions are like.  Veg brassicas in a garden or field will show up clearer under snow cover than OSR plants in a field.
It will also depend on the plants as to whether you are bothered or not about the damage - the outer flatter leaves of a cabbage isn't really a problem if they are eaten as you eat the heart of the cabbage.  On the other hand kale leaves are the bit you eat so you wouldn't want them damaged.

[Lesley Silvester]

Mine are savoys so the outer leaves aren't a problem. The goats might moan if they see any pigeons eating what they regard as 'their' food though.

[suziequeue]

Great. I have a clear plan then. Thankyou.