[Ma Lowe]

Last year I planted the seeds straight in the ground in May and absolutely nothing materialized.
This year I started them off in the greenhouse planted them out when big enough and had some lovely heads of Calabrese or green Broccoli.
My problem is that most of it ended up going to the chickens as they were covered in insects and I didn't have the stomach to try and remove them(too many anyway)
I don't as a rule spray my veg but did spray these with The Ultimate Bug Killer but obviously this didn't work.
Broccoli is one of the veg that we eat loads of and I am desperate to get a good crop for the freezer. Can anyone suggest anything to stop the bugs pleas.

I have planted a load more and at the minute they are covered with hoops and fleece and have a water soaker hose running through them so we can keep them watered. Will I be able to leabve the fleece over them until harvesting?


Thank You
Ma xx

[Goosegirl]

I always start mine off in the greenhouse in pots and transplant. I don't cover mine and they get harvested before the cabbage whites get to them. My OH who does the cooking puts anything like that or caulis which have insects on them into a basin of salty water which gets rid of the bugs within.

[Debz]

I had a cauli with lots of insects on it so I stuck it in a basin of salty water for a while and got rid of the little beggers.  I don't spray my crops with anything while they are growing.

[mumofstig]

what insects were they covered in..caterpillars? if so you can cover them with fine netting, it's what most of us have to do.

If it's brassica white fly, there doesn't seem much you can do do to keep them off
I'm going to try marigolds under the netting next year, some people have had success with this.

Here's the RHS advice
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=482