Protection from pigeons

[john9159]

I need an inexpensive way of protecting my brassicas from pigeons.

Really fed up struggling with floppy mesh and netting methods and need something more rigid and easy to access, oh and cheap!

Thanks

[Kleftiwallah]

Cheapest thing I can think of is window net curtains from the charity shops, a few canes and old tennis balls to hold it off the crops. Old C.D.s strung up to scare the divvils away? Cheers, Tony.

[Bigmallly]

You really need to go down the netting route, not only to keep the birds off but the cabbage whites more than anything. Unless you don't mind going on squish patrol........

[rustylady]

Build wooden frame and staple debris netting to it?

[Shadylane]

I used twigs last year and it worked a treat. Find some really spikey twiggy sticks and surround your bras with them. It looks better than netting and it's free. Won't stop the cabbage whites though. Last year we hardly any caterpillers, but it was probably just a bad year for them. Herbs are said to deter them and we do have a few interplanted so maybe that helped (?).

[snohare]

I tend to favour more permanent structures rather than just draped nets, so I got myself an old bed - one of those divan beds that splits in two - and ripped the fabric off it, leaving it as a simple but strong, lightweight wooden frame. Add some polythene sheeting and you have a basic cold frame, or if you add netting instead you have a frame for anything you care to cover. If you want to use it for taller brassicas (as I intend to for one of them) you can cut the netting at the sides to suit, and simply extend the corner legs by screwing on extensions; leave the netting rolled up until needed. I used short slaters' nails to fix the materiel on, as the wide heads help grip a larger area, but if I'd had the right glue I'd have used that on the polythene.
I've done the whole CD's on strings/fluttering white tape etc, and while it works to a degree, it doesn't work against the butterflies and other bugs.
Temperature inside my DIY "cold" frame earlier today was 31 degrees !!