[A Reyt Tayty]

I've just taken the netting off my spring cabbage and there's very little left to salvage. There dind't look to be too much damage to the outer leaves, but all the insides have gone west. I've done everything possible and still left empty handed. All I can assume is that the butterflies have laid their eggs through the netting as the leaves have grown and touched it.  Last year I tried sprouts. Between the whitefly and caterpillars I didn't sink my teeth into a solitary sprout.

I shall dig them up shortly and set some new seed just to use the seed up. Then that's me finished with brassicas.

Would it be ok to dig the ruined cabbage into a different bed as green manure?

[barley]

wot a shame  all that work and no dinner 

I netted and squidged all summer - cabbage whites have been a real pest this year 

[sunshineband]

As you have found  ART, those pesky Small Whites are very sneaky and can poke their little bottoms in where leaves touch netting, or even fold their wings to squeeze through netting with holes larger than 1cm square.

This year I have raised the netting to keep them from reaching in, the brassicas have fared much better.

Using longer canes with blue water pipe does the trick fer me 

[mumofstig]

See my post here
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=110230.msg1245236#msg1245236

very few people realise how small cabbage moth is - including the people who sell 7mm netting, saying it will stop cabbage white caterpillars 





size corrected see post below 

[Kristen]

7cm netting

7mm?

[mumofstig]

Thanks kristen - I've put it right now........................haven't had any Vino collapso yet either   

Might as well start now!

[gobs]

I can't see what you are debating there, 1cm netting won't stop them getting in.

[gobs]

Or 7mm as you say.

Enviromesh more like.

[Aunt Sally]

7mm netting keeps them out of my brassica cage.

[barley]

that's a life like scare crow you have in the cage Aunt Sally 

[Kristen]

7mm netting keeps them out of my brassica cage.

Me too. I have been using debris netting for years, which has eyelets every so often (which are reasonably generous in size) and haven't had any damage.  Obviously there is a risk with the eyelets, but so far it hasn't been a problem, and I haven't felt the need to fork out for Enviromesh.

[goodtogrow]

The horticultural windbreak/shade netting that I use is much finer, at about 1mm.

But I've seen blue netting (the horticultural stuff is invariably green) which looks similar to my horticultural stuff..  I assume that the blue netting is debris netting so could it be that there are different mesh sizes of debris netting?

Tom

[A Reyt Tayty]

It makes me wonder how commercial growers manage to grow anything. They can't net full fields can they?

[JayG]

No, non-organic commercial growers have an arsenal of chemicals instead, almost none of which are available to the amateur, which is both the challenge and the reward of managing without them. 

[goodtogrow]

fleece, and ground cover (biodegradeable) are used on bed systems on a field scale, so presumably netting too.

What's certain is if they do you use netting they'll be making sure the mesh size does the job.

Tom