Topic: Purple sprouting broccoli, kale & cabbage white/caterpillars

[reddyreddy]

I am going to plant some psb and kale out this weekend (plants from greenhouse) and would like to know if I need to net them as my summer stuff got annihilated by cabbage white and the resulting caterpillars. Is this only a summer problem as, excuse me if I'm stating the obvious, I've not seen as many recently? Apologies if this is me being a bit dense...  :-[

[Borlotti]

If you want to see some come to north London on my allotment and I will show you millions of them.  :( :(

[reddyreddy]

Bugger. So I should net as soon as I put them in, what a pain!

[Borlotti]

I have netted and sprayed but still have the lovely visitors.  Been kicking the plants today, perhaps we need a frost which we have been promised to kill them off.

[Stevens706]

The butterflies shouldn't be so much as problem this time of year but the  Pigeons will be if you don't protect them

[grawrc]

I don't know if it's just me or if everyone finds this, but kale seems to be pretty robust and resistant to most things. PSB on the other hand I protect.

[reddyreddy]

what size netting do you recommend?

[grawrc]

I use enviromesh. http://www.gardening-naturally.com/acatalog/Enviromesh_FAQ.html It's very effective and can be machine-washed after use for reuse later. I don't know what size the grid is but I do know it works.

[tomatoada]

I was surprised to read that there is a moth that flies at night and lays its eggs on brassicas.  The caterpillars are darker that the cabbage butterfly ones.  Ugh.