Leek Moth, Time to Cover Up....

We've had our leeks undercover since they were put into the ground. With onion fly, leek moth and pigeons competing to either eat them or pull them up we thought it was our only chance of getting a reasonable crop.

That's except for about half a dozen left-over weaklings that we didn't have the heart to compost. They were shoved into the flower border, and were almost immediately pulled up and run away with by either blackbirds or pigeons - we found their remnants on the lawn. 

So far this seems to be a problem in the southern half of Britain (you can keep it thanks very much!) 

Commercial growers no doubt "nuke" everything that moves with pesticides, the rest of us have to think about the advice contained in articles like this one:

http://davehubbleecology.blogspot.com/2011/01/leek-moth-in-britain-spread-and.html

Le sigh, we were puzzled to discover that 1/2 the leeks were looking great, but the other half were looking pretty dodgy - looks like we have these pesky moths. Hope we manage to get rid of the already dead ones in time to save what's left.

I have used net curtains and voile that I've picked up very cheaply (freecycle/charity shops etc) and have found it very useful.

Not everyone's cup of tea, but it works ok for me.

Just to bump this.

Went back to the allotment today and a lot of the remaining 'clean' leeks were mothed now as well. It's a bit gutting, since this is the first year we had what was beginning to look like leeks not cocky spring onions, but the bed is rapidly emptying...

Oh well, the french beans seem to be doing well. We'll cover the leeks next year.