Topic: Enviromesh

[grawrc]

I am intending to use a tip from the forum and plant my carrots between/ amongst my onions, however my carrots were really really bad last year so I also have Enviromesh to put on top. Will this be OK for onions and carrots? I'm just a bit worried about it being too hot.

[tim]

Another summary..!!

1.  Mesh is tough - fleece rips easily & degrades.
2.  Mesh is more expensive short-term but cheaper long-term.
3.  Fleece is light when dry but heavy when wet.
4.  Mesh is comparatively heavy wet or dry.
5.  Mesh allows rain through much more freely.
6.  Fleece gives frost protection - not claimed for mesh.
7.  Mesh is transparent - you can see any cabbage white that may have got in. And the veg.
8.  Both keep out bugs (assuming the finer mesh) - &, of course - birds etc.
9.  Mesh drives you MAD when trying to fold it up!!
10. Fleece gets muddy & collects every thistle, thorn or whatever.

If I think of anything else, I'll post it!!

[grawrc]

Thank you Tim. Based on what you say I'll boldly go .....

[tim]

Ah, yes!!

11. Mesh is so well finished & so expensive that I cannot bring myself to cut it to size. So I use fleece for the smaller bits.

[supersprout]

Hi tim, enjoyed the summary lots. I have cut my mesh to bed size. I re-use the mesh, but wondered if there was a neet way to finish the edges - as you say, it should last years with care. Thoughts so far a) blowtorch and b) sewing machine. What do you do, or do you just leave it?  ???

[tim]

As said, I don't cut it - too nice & too costly to muck about with!

Don't forget to allow a really good gusset. This is a very careless example of what to allow for - more so with brassica.

[supersprout]

erm, too late tim, I got a long roll so had to cut to 4m lengths  :-\. My broccoli outgrew the mesh at the end of the season (in spite of Gusset), so I had to jerry rig the mesh above the stalks and round the heads with elastic bands and hazel stakes like a sort of canopy and it still keeps off the pigeons, even though it's all over the place now. This year I'm going to try japanese broccoli which should be far less trouble  ;) Mesh has been great over winter spinach, seems to keep it very clean and nicer to pick.

[valentinelow]

I bought some ultrafine enviromesh last year to keep the flea beetle off my mizuna and assorted other oriental greens. Within a few weeks several small holes - big enough to push a pencil through? - had appeared in it. I do not know if they were the work of pigeons, foxes or the local cat, but they were more than somewhat depressing considering how much I had paid for the stuff. Also, the flea beetles just laughed in my face and ate up the greens regardless. An old hand on my site tells me it is because they live in the soil rather than flying in, but I have no idea if he is right or not.

[tim]

That's a bit unfair? I would seek comment from the makers.