Kitchen Garden Forum

Good morning,

In have an allotment and have tried to grow

Brussels, Cabbage, Cauliflower

However, they have suffered with caterpillar and bird damage.

Given the need for crop rotation, what is the best protection I can buy for the plants ?

Thanks

Ian

I surround my brassica beds with metre high windbreak netting on posts a bit taller than that. Then I staple binder twine to the tops of the posts round the sides and with some cross pieces. Lastly I spread butterfly netting over the top with market stall clips to hold it in place. It comes off in the late Autumn when the butterflies have gone.

Trouble isn't it. Everything loves brassica; caterpillars, pigeons, rabbits, pheasant ... And if you manage to net well enough to keep that lot off, the slugs have them, perfectly protected from being predated by the birds !

So long as fine netting is really taut, secured & higher & wider than the grown plants so leaves don't touch the net it will keep them off. Also beneficial to independently stake each plant to reduce root rock, especially with all the wind & gales around. Geoff's is a good example. As for slimy things I use Sluggo which really works well, but the benefit of this is the slugs & snails burrow down to die so no risk of good guys eating their bodies. The organic farmers & growers association have registered Sluggo as organic.