Allotments 4 All

Now with all the hours I have just put in on the job, I have come home to find that I have had squatters moved into the cabbages.
The dreaded caterpillar has eaten their way through the whole  crop of summer cabbage and the autumn ones and finally the sprouts which have been growing away merrily.
Ten days of being on a course has made sure that all the Brassica's have no way of giving us a harvest.
Looks as if I shall have to invest in cabbage cages for next year so I can at least get some to grow.
I only grow the smaller varieties so that I can enjoy the fruits of my labour. The kids are not into the brassica's unless I do a chinese up.
Pak choy and choy sum have also been eaten by the nasty caterpillar's too. >:( >:( >:(
Still at least next year I shall get this right so that I can eat more home grown food. ;D

Oh so frustrating! How awful.

Do you think you'll build a cage over them next year?

And you could still put some mustard greens in, and probably some swiss chard. Is that any good as a replacement for you?

A cage is a must me thinks.
Mustard greens are good but not the chard, oh says that the taste is not to her liking and same for the kids.
Pak Choy will be going in soon though as the taste is great in salads and stir fry.

Last year I knocked up a simple 2"x1" timber frame covered in Ikea cheap net curtain having had the same problem earlier in the year - works a treat.  You can water through it and it lifts off easily for weeding (plus, you only weed once, as once what's in there already has grown, nothing nelse gets in).  I did another one this year for the cauli - takes about an hour all told for an 8'x4' and you get the cost back the same year in untouched crops.  Well worth the effort.

definatly agree with mark here. After 3 years of dealing with the same problem on the brassicas finally got round to knocking up a small wooden fram and then some fine grade meshing over the top, and hey presto problem solved and it doesn't take that long. But, it also puts your mind at rest because youre not constantly thinking about how many of the blighters are munching there way through them. Now this year the brassicas are looking there best ever! :)

I've just returned from my holls to find one of my sprout plants stripped almost bare (and they are under mesh).  No sign of caterpillars but the few remaining leaves are covered in a grey deposit... looks like cigarette ash... could this be whitefly?  and can they strip a plant?  Any suggestions on how I can save the remaining plants appreciated  ??? :-\

I use Green Debris Netting, its 1mm nylon mesh net used to shroud buildings with scaffolding round them. It doesnt stop rain or sun, but the mesh is fine enough to stop everything else, including carrot root fly. I make cages from pallets, 1.2 m x 2.4 m x 500mm , and my cabbages are pristine, not a single insect bite on them. You get the net off ebay, its about £27 for a roll 2m x 50m , and the stuff is practically indestructible, doesnt rot or degrade in UV.

I also use debri netting. On this picture is my big brassica cage and my smaller ones for small cabbages.

Make sure you use a very small netting or something similar.  ::)

I stood one day and watched the cabbage white butterflies work themselves through my netting.  :o  How they managed to do it I do not know, but they got in.

So you need something very fine to stop the blighters.  ;)