[Zippy]

Hi. I went tot he expense of getting 7mm square netting for the whole of my turnip, swede, kale bed this year but I went to my lotty today to find large and small Cabbage White caterpillars munching away at my greens!

I think either a butterfly had laid eggs on a leaf or two which may have been touching the sides of the net or I put my nets on too late (I did order them late and they went on mid July).

However I also noticed that my Rocket plants (same family as Cabbages) and some Kale which were not netted were completely untouched by caterpillars and yet my netted ones are plagued with them.  I wondered if this was beacuse nets keep birds off the plants which would be a major predator of caterpillars?

Trouble is if I do not net I worry that pigeons would eat my Kale instead!  You cannot win!!   

[Ice]

Only you know if any of your greens were touching the nets, if they were then that would be the reason.

[pushrod]

nets will not stop white fly either - white fleece will stop them, pigeons and butterflies

[The Norfolk Turkey]

On and off!! We netted our sprouts, which was fine until they grew so big they were being restricted by the netting, then spent two weeks seeking and destroying cabbage whites and their eggs. The un-netted ones are now surrounded by pumpkins and adequately hidden, the netted (smaller) ones have been getting munched again this week........ a good advert for comapanion planting, more pumpkins required me thinks....?!

[DD.]

Nets on. All the time.

My sprouts are under debris netting. When netting you have to plan ahead as to how tall the plant will grow. It's no use putting what will be a 3 foot plus plant under 18 inches of netting.

A daren't take the netting off at anytime as the pigeons will have the tops straight away & leave presents behind all over the sprouts.

No caterpillar problem either.

[The Norfolk Turkey]

Yeah, were learning as we go with that one - my better half is already designing the netting for next year!! To be honest, we didnt expect them to do so well!!

[Zippy]

the netted (smaller) ones have been getting munched again this week........ a good advert for comapanion planting, more pumpkins required me thinks....?!

Yes, I think this may account for the fact that my Rocket (a crucifer so it is related to brassicae) and some Kale which are both open have not been touched, but they are growing in a mixture of Carrots, Courgettes, Beetroot, Onions, Lettuce and Spring Onions - the Root beds in effect, whereas my netted Brassica bed contains only Turnip, Swede and Kale.

Regarding netting, I thought a few upperside leaves touching the inside of the netting wouldn't matter as the Cabbage White looks to lay its eggs on the underside of the leaves?  If every leaf has to be a distance away from the netting this means I would be unable to grow anything within a foot of the perimeter of the bed all round, whereas I have made the most use of the ground by planting right to the edge. I grow in 4-foot wide beds that I never stand on, with paths between.  I think I may have netted too late and there may have been eggs in there already.

I wonder about whether netting stops predators (birds - do hedgehogs or frogs eat caterpillars?) from picking off caterpillars so that is another reason my netted plants were got at whereas my open ones were not?

I plant my four year rotation in two beds each (8 beds) so I feel a controlled experiment coming on for next year - one bed netted and one open to see what the difference is.

Norfolk Turkey-  I didn't think of planting Squashes in the Brassica bed, but it makes sense as they are growing on last year's mucked plots, so would benefit from the rich soil - good one!

[MoreWhisky]

Mine are always netted, To many pidgeons around.