ultrafine enviromesh.

I use it and love it.  Don't forget the slug protection though!  Once you have set up your fancy cloche, it is the devil's job to get into it on a regular basis to apply afterwards!

I have loads of it but still I end up with darned catteypiddlers!

I'm going to try very fine net curtains from a very cheap shop and see if I get a better effect. They may rot by the end of the season but I might get some cabbages!

Funny how catteypiddlers don't seem to bother with kale? I alway get my kale left alone?

Quote from: devonbarmygardener on June 09, 2012, 15:46

I have loads of it but still I end up with darned catteypiddlers!

I'm going to try very fine net curtains from a very cheap shop and see if I get a better effect. They may rot by the end of the season but I might get some cabbages!

Funny how catteypiddlers don't seem to bother with kale? I alway get my kale left alone?

I think you must have left some gaps somewhere DBG, as there no way that a butterfly can get through the size of the mesh or poke their bottoms through the lay eggs on leaves either

I weight mine down well all round -- some members dig one edge into the ground, and weight the others: no gaps is the rule!

Honestly, 3 years running we built various caterpillar defence things and each one has failed somehow!
We've dug the base of our frames in, left no holes visible, pinned everything down and I still find myself picking off cattypiddlers!!!!
I thoroughly enjoy squashing them!

Quote from: devonbarmygardener on June 12, 2012, 18:25

Honestly, 3 years running we built various caterpillar defence things and each one has failed somehow!
We've dug the base of our frames in, left no holes visible, pinned everything down and I still find myself picking off cattypiddlers!!!!
I thoroughly enjoy squashing them!

If there is no way in, they must have been there already, in one form or another, before you covered them up.

I'd like to think not.
They're covered from the moment they get in the ground and each and every plant is inspected before planting out.

Compared to slugs, cattypiddlers are my absolute nemesis!

I would think that if the top leaves were touching the net, the avipositor (egg-laying bit) of the butterfly would be able to penetrate the net - hence catty-piddlars!