Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: kizza on May 06, 2007, 22:01

Title: Cabbages
Post by: kizza on May 06, 2007, 22:01

Just planted some young cabbages today outside to their final position, My questions are: When do i have to cover them with netting and why?, what defence can i put around my veg plots in order to deter slugs etc? thanks people on advance

Title: Cabbages
Post by: shaun on May 06, 2007, 22:03

cover with a net straight away the pigeons will love em and slug pellets kizza

Title: Cabbages
Post by: dawninspain on May 06, 2007, 22:16

Netting will also help keep the cabbage white butterflies from laying their eggs on the cabbage leaves. These eggs would hatch into caterpillars later which will eat the plants.

Dawn

Title: Cabbages
Post by: ziggywigs on May 06, 2007, 22:19

Cover them -  i saw a cabbage white y'day..... :?

Title: Cabbages
Post by: shaun on May 06, 2007, 22:25

to stop butterflies you will need net smaller than 10mm they can squeeze through the smallest of holes and sometimes they lay on the leaves that are touching the net so keep spacing in mind

Title: Cabbages
Post by: Gwiz on May 07, 2007, 06:12

some cabbage rootfly collars would be a good idear, as well. you could make some out of small peices of thicker grade plastic , to save a few bob.

Title: Cabbages
Post by: crowndale on May 07, 2007, 07:50

Quote from: "dawninspain"

Netting will also help keep the cabbage white butterflies from laying their eggs on the cabbage leaves. These eggs would hatch into caterpillars later which will eat the plants.

Dawn

Last year I didn't cover my brocoli (didn't know any better).  went away on holiday for two weeks and came back to literraly thousands of caterpillars.  had to pull up every single plant.  such a waste.  There were around 100 caterpillar on every leaf, never seen anything like it in my life so you can bet that I am covering my brocoli this year from the second it goes in the ground!  Actually just thought, I have two plants outside in pots and haven't covered them, better check them over and do that today.

Title: Cabbages
Post by: withnail on May 07, 2007, 12:21

Quote from: "gwiz"

some cabbage rootfly collars would be a good idear, as well. you could make some out of small peices of thicker grade plastic , to save a few bob.

do you need to leave them exposed or can they be covered in earth ?
how big does the center hole need to be?
do you leave them in place all the time or are they removed after a certain size is reached ?


sorry for the noob questions..... just planted mine out yesterday and am unsure about how to do them, or even if i need to bother with them at all

cheers  :D

Title: Cabbages
Post by: WG. on May 07, 2007, 12:54

do you need to leave them exposed or can they be covered in earth ?
Weight them down with a stone.  Too much earth & some might hatch on top & get to the roots anyway

how big does the center hole need to be?
I use soft collars so that the growing plant can tear them.  You could use two pieces of firm plastic (notched).

do you leave them in place all the time or are they removed after a certain size is reached ?Leave in place.

Title: Cabbages
Post by: splodger on May 07, 2007, 13:30

netting will certainly stop the pigeons - they just love young greens.

for slug prevention - i spread ash on my greens bed with a dressing of soot as well. (i use old soot everywhere - little bug-a-lugs don't seem to like soot )

only the finest nets will stop the cabbage white - they are very persistant

if you are attacked by cabbage white and you want to be organic - you could try the biological method of control - bacillus thuringiensis - this is as far as i know the safest and most effective way of contolling caterpillars on many crops.