What's the best colour debris net to use?

[Jay-ell]

I use a couple of scaffolding debris nets to protect my plants from birds/ butterflies. Like alot of other people I've seen I've got green nets but they're also available in red, blue, white, black.


Thinking about it - plants use red and blue wavelengths of light to photosynthesise their food, however if you pop something white underneath the netting you can see that the light underneath it has a distinctive green tinge, a wavelength that plants throw away (hence them looking green).

Wouldn't it be better to use either white netting or red/blue netting so that the light underneath is cast into a colour useful to the plant, or at least not absord it. If so which woukd be the best for which plants?

As greenhouse shadin tend to be green, which i assume is to absorb these wavelengths to reduce the intensity on the plants, then couldn't the same question could apply to blowaway greenhouses.

Is the reason that green is used purely aesthetic and because we subconsciously expect them to be green - partly because "it's a GREEN house" and partly because plants are green rather than any scientific/practical reason?

How would you feel if you looked over the allotment site and saw red and blue nets/cloches/polytunnels dotted all over it?

[Scarlet]

How would you feel if you looked over the allotment site and saw red and blue nets/cloches/polytunnels dotted all over it?

Yuk! I prefer the black ones myself but I've got green. I don't particularly like the look of the White enviromesh either. I haven't got a clue but can't imagine the colour of the thin thread of the net would make any difference to plant growth though it's an interesting thought.

[veggiechicken]

I have green (though its a bit turquouisey) because it reminds me of the Mediterranean sea on a particularly sunshiny day. If it makes me feel happy, it must do the same for my plants

[Thelma Sanders]

Mine's green as well

[Kier]

mine is white mainly because it has 90% light transmission

[Snow]

Mine is blue purely because blue was cheaper to buy for some reason. havent used it yet so can't say how good it works. I agree that in theory there should be some colors working better than others, but I dont know which and I doubt it would make huge differences, but you never know.

[Mr Bones]

Mine's green simply because the scaffolder I got it from only had green to get rid of. Can't say I noticed any difference growing under green net from growing under black net with a much wider mesh.

[Kristen]

I bought Green because I thought that would look better - but (I should have known, from building sites) its Turquoise and looked ghastly ... happy to say the first lot, bought years ago, is wearing out and I have been able to replace it with black which is all-but invisible, seen from a distance.

But if I was blagging some off a building site, at the end of the job as the scaffolding comes down (its often thrown away rather than reused) I'd have whatever colour they were chucking out!

I don't think the colour matters to the plants - its going to cast a shade for its surface area, either way. Can't say I've noticed any difference in crop-size netted - and of course if the caterpillars / pigeons ate my crop the plants would then be minuscule!

[lottie dolly]

All ours is rescue netting,DH is an expert collector of all things lottie useful,ours is all green,the only bit of white cost £5,it was just to get rid of it,however,i have noticed it is not as tough as the green that has a long life,cannot say for other colors,

[Bren In Pots]

Mines black I picked that colour because my veg is in the back garden and it doesn't seem to stand out as much as the other colours do.

[KevinM67]

I asked my father, as he was a scaffolder for 50+ years....

He didn't know what I was talking about.

[Chris172]

Hi green for me also as when its going for a song refuse nothing but blows

Two years on still looking good and the crops being protected have gave out great reward

Will wait until i have to replace and see whats going then, happy gardening

[Kevin497]

Well, I got green.

[Kristen]

Is it green? or actually turquoise?

[snakeshack]

I use black because it's less visible,and at the time,cheaper by the roll.