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I heard recently that caterpillar and pigeon damage to brassicas could be prevented by spraying the leaves occasionally with a saline solution - I think it was 1 tablespoon of salt dissolved in a gallon of water.

Does anyone know if this works? Also would it affect the taste/nutritional quality of the vegetables? My first attempt at growing calabrese this year ended in disaster as the plants grew much bigger than expected (no information on the seed packets!). Consequently they burst out of their netting protection and were almost instantly devoured by the above-named pests.

Would love to know if anyone has tried this idea - it seems too easy  :-\.

That would be brilliant if it worked. Hello and welcome by the way!  :)

Hello to you too Caz and Baz - thanks for the welcome!

I've been practising on the end of a friend's plot (in Ludlow, with a view of the castle  :) ) since March this year, and apart from the calabrese disaster I've grown some fantastic stuff. More by luck than judgement definitely...

Just been told I'm No. 1 on the waiting list for a whole plot of my own so I'm going to need all the help I can get!

Am not sure about the saline solution - though as long as you don't use it in the hottest and sunniest part of the day (avoid scorching, etc), maybe it would be worth an experiment.

Put the netting higher next time!

Thanks a lot for your replies - yes you're quite right I should have put the netting higher but it's a tremendous fuss and you need to take it off from time to time for weeding. That's when the little white blighters seem to home in! I was hoping the salt solution idea would avoid all that.

I'll definitely give it a try with just a few plants next year and would love to compare notes. As you say Wardy, nothing ventured...