Topic: KALE

[woodypecks]

Is it true that cabbage white butterflies dont bother with kale ...or should I cover it  along with the cabbages ?   Never grown it before . Debs

[blisters]

Mine got wiped out whilst I was on holiday last year.  I'll definately cover it this year.

[woodypecks]

Thanks for the warning Blisters !  So another question ...am I right in thinking they grow quite tall ?  Are they taller than Brussel Sprouts ?  I f so I,ll need to make the frame taller ? Debs

[thifasmom]

approx 18 inches high give or take a couuple inches.

[woodypecks]

Thankyou Thifasmom , I think my present frame will do in that case .   :)

[Old bird]

Hi Woodypecks - If you are growing dwarf curly kale it is quite short but the normal sized stuff is a fair bit taller.  The Kale negro and Russian Kale are about the 18inch size!

With both the curly and negro I have had only a small problem with pigeons and no problems at all with cabbage whites.  I have had to cover my PSB but these are uncovered and still doing well!   There are loads of pigeons on and around the site too!

Old Bird

 ;D

[raisedbedted]

Mine have always been fine unless we have adverse weather such as snow and then the pigeons turn to them in abundance - maybe they make a good winter warmer for them or maybe its all they can see.

[Barnowl]

With Cavolo Nero, if you keep cropping leaves from the bottom upwards they keep getting taller. We've had them grow to 3 ft but 2ft is more usual.

[littlebabybird]

the pigeons decimated all my kale  :'(

lbb

[SPUDLY]

Hi woodypecks,

I lost all my greens to the cabbage white caterpillar last year. My own fault, too slow getting the net out of the shed. Saying that i have never seen so many caterpillars as i did last summer. I spent ages during the day trying to pick them off, only to return in the morning and find everything covered in them. They destroyed cabbages, kale, sprouts, in fact if it was green it was gone. Wont make the same mistake this year. As soon as the greens are planted out they are getting covered with scaffold net.

[Tin Shed]

I net every brassica on my plot - it keeps the pigeons and cabbage whites away, but those d*mn whitefly get everywhere!!!

[thifasmom]

Hi woodypecks,

I lost all my greens to the cabbage white caterpillar last year. My own fault, too slow getting the net out of the shed. Saying that i have never seen so many caterpillars as i did last summer. I spent ages during the day trying to pick them off, only to return in the morning and find everything covered in them. They destroyed cabbages, kale, sprouts, in fact if it was green it was gone. Wont make the same mistake this year. As soon as the greens are planted out they are getting covered with scaffold net.

last year was certainly a record high for the the cabbage white :o :-X >:(