cabbage collars and peeeaaaassss

Hi all,

A couple of questions, any guidance would be great!

I am very excited as I have a few wee cabbage seedlings poking through in my raised bed (only those and lettuce so far) they are tiny but I know that I should think about putting collars on them at some point. When does everyone do this? It seems crazy to try and collar such a small thing but I don't want to leave it too late. They are covered in fleece at the moment, will this be ok until they get to a decent size?

Also can anyone suggest average germinetion times for peas? I sowed afew about 10 days ago and no sign of anything yet. I am impatient so should I just wait a little longer?

My peas took 10 days, but that's quite fast.

Don't panic yet!

It's to protect from the dreaded root fly. I cut some saucer sized cardboard discs, with an X in the middle for the stems. There's some good info here....www.allotment-garden.org/vegetable/brassicas/cabbage-root-fly.php

I dug down to see how my peas were progressing this afternoon. They were planted a week ago and small shoots are making their way towards the surface. If we get the promised rain at the weekend they will be through.

If your cabbage plants are under fleece then they are probably safe from cabbage root fly.

Cabbage root fly lay their eggs on the soil near to cabbage stems and the maggots that hatch crawl into the soil and chew the roots. The odd one does not matter but sometines there are dozens and all the roots get eaten. If a collar is in place the eggs are laid on the collar and the maggots cannot get into the soil. Cabbage root fly need to feed on nectar before they lay their eggs, often cow parsley flowers. They do not usually appear until mid-May but with the unusually warm days they could well about any time now.

Thanks everyone for your reliable advice...as always. I have just been to check them and think I will leave them covered in fleece till Saturday and then make some collars and net them (better safe than sorry!)