[Biscombe]

HI all, I need help here!! My Romenesco cauliflower which were doing soooo well, have copped it to CWB and some horrid yucky brown rot stuff burrowing into the leaf nodes SO.....As an organic gardener I've decided that cauli's  & broccoli aren't Worth planting out in the open!
Went to the hardware shop to buy something to build a cage with and the only thing in the shop was mosquito mesh which was 2.50 Euros a meter (about £1.75) I was going to buy 30 meters but it would work out too expensive and not worth it for a bed of caulis! To cut a long story short what do you use for your cages? I could get some sent over from blighty.

Thanks in advance

[milkman]

Hallo Biscombe - I have two cost effective solutions to the cages problem - see page 4 of the allotment photo album - for big tall brassicas I use bamboo canes with bottles on the top, for smaller plants I employ the blue water pipe method - and cover them with netting or viromesh or fleece, which is anchored securely at the base with a combination of bricks or planks of wood.

[shaun]

the best type of frame is something you can walk into,some people use and old gazebo frame or the metal frame of a tent if you go this way the netting can be expensive.
i have been thinking about a polly tunnel half with polythene and the other half with netting,this way with crop rotation you will only need to move it every couple of years,just swap the net for the polythene and vice versa .

[Annie]

I have a handy hubby.we have copper tubing bent into hoops the width of the beds but welded to horizontal tube in the centre and on the lower edges to make them ridged.they are easy to stack when not in use,high enough for brassicas and if you have enough can be used as crop supports,with the addition of a bit of string and they last a lifetime.I do agree though that environmesh in good widths is expensive but fleece is verry cheap,trouble is it`s mesh that is most useful for most of the year,but used carefully it also can last a few years.

[silver8]

As someone who is always looking to do things on the cheap i was wondering whether old net curtains could be used, or is this a totally daft idea.

[Annie]

Sounds OK to me unless it`s lacy?

[Ian_P]

Hi,
I had just the same problem in my first year, then someone suggested scounging old debris netting that comes from building sites. They attach it to scaffolding and then it goes in the skip after. Its green or blue and there seems to be loads of it on motorway bridges at the moment. Its 3m wide, and has a very fine mesh. (a few ventilation holes woven into its length to stop the wind catching it were soon tied up). So that bit is free.

For the frame I bought 10 * 3m 21mm plastic overflow pipe from Screwfix direct for £9.99 plus a bit of delivery. This can be bent into hoops, kinked at right angles, or as I did you can buy packs of elbow joints. I cut it into 2mtr lengths then used 1mtr side support pushed into the ground. By the time I did this the netting fitted all over with a skirt around the edge which I weighed down.

It lasted all summer. I grew red cabbage, white cabbage, two sorts of cauli, lettuce and purple sprouting all underneath with no damage from outside stuff. The only damage was from slugs which I was able to deal with other ways. This from a pen 3mtrs * 2mtrs

I have now moved it to cover spring cabbage, and a few of the leeks which are in the way. It look like it will last many years. This netting is bomb proof.

I have a picture somewhere. I will post it if I can find it.

[Biscombe]

Thanks for all the replied everyone! Some great Ideas! Just found out that the 'horrid yucky brown rot stuff burrowing into the leaf nodes' problem is! swede midge! I don't think you've got this problem in the UK Lucky you. Just had to pull up all my PSB and romanesco caulis! I managed to come by some flece and made a cage for the greyhound cabbages, I hope they make it! Theses pests (harlequins, CWC & sewdw midge all in the same patch!) are putting me off growing any cruciferous vegetables!!!!! Fingers crossed for the cabbage!!
Thanks again for the great ideas

[noshed]

I've just bought a few metres of extremely fine net from allplas.co.uk - keeps out aphids and flea beetle apparently. They have quite a helpful website.