Tip Top Top Tip Query

[nick the grief]

Hello fellow grapes,

I was having a chat to a fellow plot holder this morning (sort of warm up exercise you know how it is) & the subject of Brassica's came up. She said that about 1/3 of her plot was for Brassica's (I resisted the temptation to crack a joke about wind as she was holding a rather large fork ) I laughed and said good, it means that the dreaded Cab Whites will pester her not me, to which she replied

"Spray the plants with salt water with a drop of fairy in"

I can see the logic in this as the native brassicas are coastal plants, anyone else ever tried this as a cure for caterpillar's ??

I await with interest.

[Shortie]

It's my first year of growing them, but I have heard the washing up liquid tip before, so I think it might be worth a try. I couldn't work out if the washing liquid was to stop them eating it as it would taste nasty, or it would make the stems slippery...?

You should have cracked the wind joke anyway. She may have laughed, or alternatively you could have given everyone else a comedy chase-sketch to watch, Benny Hill style!

[nick the grief]

Hi Shortie,

The washing up liquid is just there as a wetting agent & makes the spray stick to the leaves (Cabbages have a waxy coating & the water just forme droplets) & I know you can use this for greenfly etc, it was the salt I wondered about.

[Shortie]

Oops

[plot 11 pam]

does anyone have a tip for making home made cabbage collars. i have in the past made them of light roofing felt but i dont have any left. good idea re spraying in previous thread.

[andrewo]

Salt water? Won't this eventually damage the soil and the plants?

[Alice]

Re salt - yes in sufficient quantity it will ruin the soil but don't know what sufficient quantity is. In the good old days when nothing went to waste my Mother always added some salt to the water the eggs were boiled in.I think the theory was if the eggs cracked the salt would seal them and they would not boil out of the shell. The salt water was then taken out and poured on the cracks in the paths to prevent weeds (this was offcourse the childrens job). Far as I remember it worked.

Re soapy water as a wetting agent - very interesting point. Some plants just don't respond well to weedkiller as the liquid just runs off them. Thinking about mares tails and perennial sweet peas ( which I always have in danger of invading the road and paths). Maybe if they were first wet with soapy water then sprayed with weed killer it would be more effective. Anybody tried this? I will and will let you know how I get on. Could be on to something here.

[Geordie]

Weeds such as mares tail needs to be bruised before applying weedkiller for it to be effective.

[JennieAtkinson]

Salt water? Won't this eventually damage the soil and the plants?

Hope not, mine get blasted with enough of the fresh kind

Another brassica question - this months GYO says that brassicas should be earthed up? Not heard of this one. Can anyone say when this needs to be done and how high should the earthing up be?

[noshed]

when you plant out brassicas it's best to plant them fairly deep ie up to the bottom leaves. They like to be solidly in - so make sure the soil around them is firm. I don't think you need to earth them up exactly. I've found rings cut from 2l water bottles are quite good at protecting them from slugs and other catastrophes.
Spaying the seedlings with seaweed seems to be good too.

[Geordie]

Firming in Brassicas is done as you plant them....people who earth up brassicas may just have a little to much time on their hands!