Brassica Collars

[TEB]

As I was walking the dog across a field of Kale last night it reminded me that I need some more Brassicas collars, as you do in these instances I started to wonder:

Has anyone made collars out of coarse grade sand/glass paper, my theory is that this may deter slugs, anyone !!

[womble]

No, but I like the idea, lets get some captive slugs and do some experiments on the little bluggers.

[Victoria26]

Great idea. I was gonna make them out of normal cardboard as I have no underlay.

What is the best thing to make them from?

[greendean]

i have heard of roofing felt or dpc can be effective. might be better with course wet and dry sandpaper as ordinary sandpapers usually have waterbased glue which will disintigrate after a while.

[snohare]

I'm thinking of trying the foil tops off yoghurts, I know they are not moisture permeable but I gather the slugs don't like the metal (makes sense since their slime is sensitive to electical charge) and if you wrap it around the stems flee beatles (?) can't chomp through it to get into the stem.

[womble]

They only don't like copper, the rest of the metals they don't mind at all.

I have tried putting thick copper wire in loops round some lettuce seedlings today, we will see what happens.

[snohare]

Ah, my plans are foiled again !
When I tried the copper impregnated mesh that Lidl's were selling, it did not work well. I came to the conclusion that the little blighters were lurking in the soil, either as eggs or underground like keel slugs, within the perimeter. Pure copper I think oxidises too fast anyway.

[womble]

I liked the idea of the copper impregnated mesh, that's a shame you didn't think it worked very well.
I haven't tried it, too expensive you understand

Another thing I tried today is winding thick copper wire round the bottom bit of leg of my seedling stand in the greenhouse, for good measure I also stood the legs on a bit of sandpaper

[Snadger]

I have some collars made from damp proof membrane which are supposed to guard against cabbage root fly. The theory is, they lay there larvae at the bottom of the plant to burrow into the stem but the collars don't allow them to do this and the birds get them instead. You can also use corugated cardboard. Both types neeed something to stop them blowing away on our windy site. Enviromesh would be a better deterrant but is very expensive.
I have also seen people on our allotment site wrap the brassica stem including an inch or so into the ground with tin foil. Same principal as collars methinks, but this gives a vertical rather than horizontal barrier. At least I think thats what the silver legged brassicas are for? Should prevent slugs and snails and cutworms nibbling at the stem also.

[Victoria26]

I am going to cover my whole brassica bed with fine mesh. Will I still need to collar the brassicas too?

This is my first year growing them and I know they get very tall. When planting should I plant them right up to their seed leaves?

[womble]

You should plant them up to their seed leaves whenever you like, I'm almost certain you can snip off the seed leaves and plant up to the first set of real leaves, but please don't do this unless someone else says it is ok, I have done it at the final planting, but only once or twice.
I might do half this year as an experiment.

You shouldn't have to put collars on them, but if you make some out of cardboard it costs nothing, takes very little time, will keep the ground around the new plant damp and weeds down...... and very last of all, if a cabbage root fly does get through your mesh, will stop the eggs getting to the soil.

So, yes

[Rossa]

Just posted a thread on a new product called Slug Buggers! Interested to know what you all think about it.

[snohare]

The fine mesh will keep out the root flies etc right enough Victoria ( in theory anyway) and the dreaded pigeons and egg-laying cabbage whites (which will lay their eggs through the mesh if it lies on the plants), but you need a collar to keep the slugs at bay unless you can be absolutely sure that there are no slugs or their eggs already in the soil.
That slug buggers thing looks good - I know just the very place to get lots of free sheep's wool off a barbed wire fence !

[Demeter]

I saw my first cabbage white today.
I swore at it.
Haven't got my nets up yet!

[Victoria26]

i dug up 17 caterpillars today in a 3ft by 10ft area.

I hate them too.