Topic: Type of netting to protect plants from wood pigeon damage.

[George the Pigman]

For many years to prevent devastation of our brassicas by the local large population of wood pigeons I and others on my site have used scaffolders debris netting  supported by hoops to cover them. Its supposed to stop butterflies getting in but I am more sceptical about the latter. Problem is though I think it blocks off a fair amount of light. Does anyone use an alternative?

[JanG]

I use debris netting for brassicas too. I haven’t been aware of any problems with lack of light. All kinds of brassicas develop well. I’m wondering whether you’ve noticed any problems with your brassicas which might be caused by poor light?
When butterflies have found a way in I have usually found that there’s a small hole somewhere or I hadn’t pegged it down quite well enough. I’ve heard of people sowing up the black seams, which tend to have bigger gaps, but I’ve not done that and haven’t felt the need to.
The alternatives are black butterfly netting, either the softer kind or the more obviously plastic stiffer kind. . Both are more expensive. The softer kind catch and are rather easily damaged I find, and the stiffer kind is just not as pleasant to handle. I imagine they let more light in though.
And then there’s mesh such as Enviromesh.  I don’t know how the light filtration compares but again it’s quite expensive.
Brassicas can stand a certain amount of shade so my own feeling is that debris netting works well but I’d be interested to know your experiences, G the P.

[saddad]

I use debris netting and haven't noticed any problems with light levels.

[Paulh]

I use rigid netting with 7mm gauge mesh on my brassicas. The butterflies can't get through it but can lay eggs through it if there's a leaf in range. It cuts out a bit of light but not enough to seem to be an issue.

I use 19mm gauge flexible netting on my peas and fruit. It's easier to store than the rigid netting. The pigeons will reach through from a convenient perch (such as the hoops!), so you need to take that into account in the design.

[George the Pigman]

JanG I've noticed this year over winter the Purple Sprouting Broccoli were exceptionally tall as were the Brussels Sprouts so I wondered if they were stretching for the light. Not noticed a problem in summer over the years.
Another problem is the eyelets that scaffolders use to attach it to the scaffolding can be accessed by insects as you point out and often the lines of them down the middle seem to split in strong winds.

[JanG]

JanG I've noticed this year over winter the Purple Sprouting Broccoli were exceptionally tall as were the Brussels Sprouts so I wondered if they were stretching for the light. Not noticed a problem in summer over the years.
Another problem is the eyelets that scaffolders use to attach it to the scaffolding can be accessed by insects as you point out and often the lines of them down the middle seem to split in strong winds.

Interesting. My PSB has been very tall lately too, but I’ve put it down to favourable growing conditions. In fact I’ve abandoned the debris netting when they’ve got to a certain height as I can’t peg it down any more, and replaced it with roughly draped  black netting simply to keep the pigeons off. Could your purple sprouting and brussel spouts simply be happy and vigorous?!
I’ve not had debris netting split at the eyelet seams and, as above, I’ve noticed very little insect, including butterfly, damage through those eyelets. I’m thinking that most insects, like aphids and whitefly, will collect under any mesh etc., and the occasional incursion of butterfly eggs is reasonably easily dealt with.
Of course, debris netting won’t keep flea beetles off at the early stage of development.