Silly question - pollinating brassicas

[SaraJH]

Hi all,

Apologies for the really silly question but if you cover your brassicas with a 7mm butterfly net then how do the plants get pollinated?

Thanks in advance

[Bigmallly]

They don't............Brassicas only flower when they bolt which you don't want.

[SaraJH]

They don't............Brassicas only flower when they bolt which you don't want.

Thank you! I am a total beginner at all this so your advice is much appreciated

[Bigmallly]

It's ok Sara, you don't know if you don't ask...............As we say on the vine, there are no silly questions...............unless it's me who's asking.............

[Alison]

You only need to worry about pollination with fruiting plants ie ones which form the bit you eat from the flower and even then some of them self pollinate

[Bigmallly]

There is a flip side to your question however, if you want to save seed then you will want them to flower.

[SaraJH]

Thank you Alison,

So, I am planting Kohl Rabi in my brassica veg bed and am hoping to harvest early, will follow it with winter cabbage. I assume that I will need to net the Kohl Rabi as per more common brassicas?

[SaraJH]

There is a flip side to your question however, if you want to save seed then you will want them to flower.

Save seed...... I'm only just learning how to plant seeds!!

Baby steps and all that!

[Martin H]

The white butterfly caterpillars will definitely eat kohlrabi leaves if you let them. However they probably won't have a chance to do much damage before you harvest the plants as long as you keep an eye open and squash any problem in the bud. It's not as if you eat the leaves, so a few holes won't matter.

If there are wood pigeons around though you'll need to net the young plants before they get pecked to pieces!

[Alison]

Agree with Martin although personally I'd not put the winter cabbage in the same place as I like to rotate my veggies and not plant like after like. You should be OK as kohl rabi is a quick crop but I'm a bit of a rotation bore