Careful the EU police don't read that post J.Flett!
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Cure for cabbage white???
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Many thanks everyone for your comments. I went to check on the crops yesterday, and the fleece, netting, curtain netting has all been crossed and my whole crop of cabbages and sprouts have been ruined! I was all for giving up next year and using the bed for something else (the wife has persuaded me otherwise) and I will definately try the rhubarb brew as there's plenty at the bottome of the garden.
So can I check, place the leaves in a bin, add water, let it rot down for a few weeks and then spray over the crops. And this shouldn't harm the plant or affect the taste??
As for carrot fly, I've not had this since I placed a cold-frame (with the top removed) on a raised bed. Excellent crops, no fly as they can't fly high enough, it's just those pesky butterflies!!!!!
Glenn
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I would guess that a lot of insects and other pests are attracted by smell, so carrots & onions together confuse the other one's flies. Fennel has a strong smell. Chamomile is supposed to be a good companion plant.
As with slugs & snails, you could go hunting and collect the caterpillars and destroy the eggs.
Another idea could be to sow a kamakazi trap crop. One year, I read something about planting nasturtiums next to french beans to deter the blackfly - I lost my nasturtiums as they were covered in aphids but not a single french bean plant had this unsightly pest. Perhaps grow some nasturtiums as they are brassicas. Flowers and leaves are tasty as well.
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Fleece
Fleece is widely used in my part of Angus, local farmer grows his organic swedes under it with good results,it also helps warm up the soil a bit. Last year I picked off the caterpillars by hand and squashed the eggs,failed completly.This year I've given up and grown no brassica at all.I have had success with my carrots though,last year full of grubs,this year under fleece,full of flavour and no grubs.
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Hi, I have been following this thread and the last with interest as I am also suffering heavily from various caterpillars and sawfly larvae. (The bu**ers didn't manage to get my gooseberry bush for the first time ever though!!! Woohoo!)
They have even munched through my kale, nasturtiums, beans, peas, caulis, and even some of my herbs, I will be definitely be trying the rhubarb spray next year!!! I felt awful about spraying them ( I deport my slugs rather than squish them ) But I think my time of being soft hearted will have to come to an end because I am now losing more than I am growing at the mo
Will have to be more vigilant!!Last edited by janie; 06-09-2006, 01:55 PM.Sherbet, possibly the smallest rabbit in the world....
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I've resurrected this thread, because the first Cabbage Whites were spotted yesterday (def. CW, not Brimstones)
btw, fine netting over your brassicas is the best thing (debris netting, eBay) but you do need to whip it off now and again to check, because a few butterflies will still get in.All gardeners know better than other gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb.
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for a 100% cure of all things catapiller, get some dipel and spray every now and then, it works and is listed as organic safe as well, its a bacteria extract and it worksLiving off grid and growing my own food in Bulgaria.....
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Snadger, don't confuse CornMEAL with CornFLOUR! the two are compleately different!
Cornmeal is also known as Polenta Meal/Flour and is very yellow, comes in various grades of fineness and should be available in some supermarkets (Tescos only has it pre-cooked!) and most health food shops and delis.
Leave your OH's cornflour in the cupboard to thicken your gravy with!When the Devil gives you Cowpats - make Satanic Compost!
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