I was intending covering my cabbages with environmesh to protect them from the cabbage whites which dessimated them last year, I have tried to buy some but keep seeing fleece recommended for covering for protection from pests. Is this right - I've got loads of fleece but no mesh - can I use the fleece?
I covered my would- be carrots with fleece but I found that the water struggled to get through. Might just be the stuff I bought though.
I have just got hold of a load of old net curtains. Gonna try these on part of the crop and see what happens....
my fleece must be the ultra cheapo stuff as the water soaks through just fine !
I've never really understood the difference between fleece and mesh, but like you marymary, as I have loads of fleece and no mesh, guess which route I take ? :P
I guess the fleece could cook things though but it appears to be doing the job with the salad bed (ie keeping the really hot sun off).
Wish I hadn't wiped off my long spiel on this from last year.
FLEECE
Recommended for frost protection
Light & easy to handle, & light on the plants - until it's wet!!
Not freely permeable
Opaque
Protects from ALL beasties
Easy to store
Short life - tears easily
Inexpensive
MESH
Fairly heavy, but freely permeable & does NOT get soggy with rain
Like a slippery fish to handle & takes up a lot of room in storage
Only the fine version protects against flea beetle
Fairly see-through - helps identify any intruders
Very strong & long lasting
Expensive
Neither are necessary for Cabbage Whites - netting will suffice, but Whites can squeeze through a surprisingly small hole
E&OE
Another use for fleece which I only realised this year after using the stuff for 10 or more years - I am quick on the uptake - is to put it on areas where seed has been directly sown in the soil to help to retain moisture somewhat during this dry Spring.
So far germination has been good (better than usual) - obviously it also helps to keep the nasties off, as mentioned in previous posts. We take the fleece off when the plants are a couple of inches tall.
Keeps the cats off too!!
we had fleece 2 years ago that kept the water off the carrots, it was frost control..that, with peat free compost meant we got hardly any carrots at all..we bought some cheap stuff from tesco..it works fine, I can even water through it with a watering can and the carrots have germinated fine :)
Tim's post says it all really. Fleece does have it's uses but we found that foxes/cats ripped ours to shreds so have used vironmesh for the carrots and fine netting over the brassicas etc for years and the original ones are still being used - so making up for the initial cost. KTL, I also use fine net curtains and they do the job too!