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... :-[
If you want to see some come to north London on my allotment and I will show you millions of them. :( :(
Bugger. So I should net as soon as I put them in, what a pain!
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.
The butterflies shouldn't be so much as problem this time of year but the Pigeons will be if you don't protect them
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.
what size netting do you recommend?
I use enviromesh. http://www.gardening-naturally.com/acatalog/Enviromesh_FAQ.html (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.
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.