Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: RuthLG on May 14, 2012, 13:19
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Just got some (free) lengths of wood about 3-4' tall. I intend to use them to build frames around my deep beds to net the crops, but I am confused by the number of different types of netting available. There is bird netting, which would let most other things through, so I know i dont want that. But then there is the green 'wind prevention' stuff and white fine mesh (enviromesh, I think he called it) and horticultural fleece. Can someone tell me what the best thing would be to prevent not just birds (from sparrows to wood pigeons) through, but also insects please? By 'insects' I mean from butterfliesd to carrot root flies etc.
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butterflies need a net with less than 7mm holes and is fairly cheap in places like Wilkinsons,or
eg here
http://www.gardening-naturally.com/acatalog/Protection_Netting.html
or you can buy debris netting on ebay.
To keep out carrotfly only enviromesh/veggiemesh will work and that can be quite expensive if you buy enough to cover your brassicas as well.
eg here
http://www.gardening-naturally.com/acatalog/Veggiemesh.html?gclid=CIvOpqXm_68CFQQMtAodXhBkFg
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Depends on what you are growing, and also cost, to some extent.
Personally I wouldn't use fleece for anything other than temporary frost protection as it's not very durable and blocks quite a lot of light.
Fine "enviromesh" type netting will protect against all flying pests, but will also prevent access by bees and other insects to crops which need pollinating (usually fruits.)
It's also quite expensive.
Debris netting is cheap and the mesh size is deemed small enough to keep out cabbage white butterflies which is why it's often used to protect brassicas. It would not protect against carrot flies which are quite small, and may block entry to some pollinators.
General purpose garden netting is mainly used for bird protection, will protect against little else, but is a good choice for the likes of soft fruits which require good pollination.
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CRIKEY have you seen the price of that enviromesh from MoS link??? My word!
Why is it soooo expensive? How do you keep it secure it looks like a small gust of wind would take it away.
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CRIKEY have you seen the price of that enviromesh from MoS link??? My word!
Why is it soooo expensive? How do you keep it secure it looks like a small gust of wind would take it away.
I saw some in a shop this morning, but they only had a meter left, so not enough. It was £2.70 per meter, which did seem expensive, but it seems quite tough (you could wash it in the washing machine of you really wanted to). You can apparently get some pegs that look like thin tent pegs to hold it down.
Thanks for the info everybody. I will have a rethink, though I'm not sure that anything needs pollinating in the carrot bed to be honest.
My set-up is I have two deep beds for each type of crop on a four year rotation - so roots, potatoes, brassicas+peas+beans, and miscellaneous (courgettes, celery etc). I would need to cover the full size of each bed (well, only those that need covering) and each one is 11'x4', so that is quite a lot of netting/insect protection. At present though, I only have one bed done for each crop type. As far as i can tell, potatoes dont need covering, so that would be three beds to cover, but even so, that will be quite expensive I think.
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Is it true that carrot root flies can only fly at less than 2' from the ground? If so, would it be easier if I were just to build a 2' wall around the bed in polythene or something? The bed also contains onions and parsnips; will this make any difference?
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i use the debres netting like they use for scaffolding for everything,,,ebay,,,,about 30 quid for 50 mtrs by 2 mtrs
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Is it true that carrot root flies can only fly at less than 2' from the ground? If so, would it be easier if I were just to build a 2' wall around the bed in polythene or something? The bed also contains onions and parsnips; will this make any difference?
Sort of true - they don't suffer from vertigo but just happen to be weak fliers, the downside being that they are easily blown off course, including up and over any barriers!
2-3' barriers can tip the odds in your favour but the only guaranteed method is enviromesh or similar, properly fastened down so they can't fly or crawl in.
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Would the netting mentioned in M1ckz's post be sufficient, or are the holes too large for carrot fly?
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Would the netting mentioned in M1ckz's post be sufficient, or are the holes too large for carrot fly?
Debris netting is cheap and the mesh size is deemed small enough to keep out cabbage white butterflies which is why it's often used to protect brassicas. It would not protect against carrot flies which are quite small, and may block entry to some pollinators.
;)
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Oops, missed that line. Thank you!
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A much cheaper option for carrot fly protection, but not quite so long lasting, is to use fine voile net curtains.
IKEA sell these very cheaply indeed, or you may have some old ones yourself - just avoid ones with lacy holes in them though ;)
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A much cheaper option for carrot fly protection, but not quite so long lasting, is to use fine voile net curtains.
IKEA sell these very cheaply indeed, or you may have some old ones yourself - just avoid ones with lacy holes in them though ;)
That's an interesting option. We have a discount curtain fabric store just down the road, so might pop in and have a look. Thanks for the tip!
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hi ya :) i have seen fields of carrots around camebridge, no netting around them how do they keep the root fly at bay?..........pete
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with lots of chemical spraying ::)
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It may look expensive but you've got to remember it can last up to 10 years, I have frames made from scaffolding boards, 2 high, and the enviromesh to cover them cost be about £11 so if it last 10 years that's just over a pound a year.