netting....

Nets are a pain and only to be used as a last resort. I net strawberries and swear every time I need to pick them. Red currants need nets or you won't get any, the birds will have them. Most of the rest I don't net but use old CDs as bird scarers. Cabbages and other brassicas I have never netted but do a caterpillar hunt every two or three days. They would need insect netting anyway. Leeks I will net with insect netting this year as we are plagued with leek moth.

Hope this helps.

I only net brassica to protect from cabbage white butterflies,never worried about beans or peas.

Thank you for replys

Insect netting? On the brassica's do you leave the netting continuously until picking vegtables?
Leek moths? Tee hee there is just so much to take in think my brain will explode... few things to look up later then...

If you are going to net the brassicas they need to be netted for all their life. Insect netting, enviromesh but a much cheaper alternative is fine net curtains from a charity shop. A bit more up market cheap net cirtains from I...ea. What ever you use it has to be fine enough to stop the butterflies laying their eggs and you need to keep it clear of the plants. Caterpillar patrol is much easier.

Leeks, onions etc need to be covered all their lives but I wouldn't bother if you don't have leek moth in your area.

Whatever you use it needs to be fixed firmly to the ground to stop anything getting in.

Yes sometimes the leaves grow & can touch the netting,then the butterflies put their ovipositor through the netting to lay eggs. So it might need adjusting. Starlings try & get under my net they walk the whole way round searching for an entrance,I've used large stones & tent pegs to hold it down. I haven't had a problem with leek/onion moths or flies (yet!)

We have to net our brassicas or the 'rats with wings' ave 'em and/or the white fluttery things lay their eggs and their caterpillars have a party. Saw a rat with wings yesterday just land on a neighbors gooseberry bush with wings out-splayed was more like a flop then proceeded to start stripping the bush until one of my carefully aimed stones just missed him.

We net all strawberries or the black birds have a feast, any red and they home in with their radar to attack and that includes any fruit which is best caged. Any they miss then the slugs and snails will have unless you put down slug traps.

We fence in our sweetcorn or the badgers have those and devastate them and lst year they dug everyones carrots up, oh and forgot we net our peas as well else just about everything goes for those. Just waiting for the squirrels to take a shine to something and think that will be everything attacking our crops.

Apart from that its a pleasure growing stuff at our lottie's, my razor wire, search lights, observation towers, machine gun nests and armed guards are being installed next week.