using butterfly netting

Gardening to 'grow your own food' from square foot to half an acre !!
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kitla
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using butterfly netting

Post by kitla »

We've made an 8'x18' raised veg bed & have decided to put a cage over it & cover
it with butterfly netting so dh can grow cabbages & cauli at last - rather than breeding
caterpillas! However I read a comment about not being able to grow anything that
needs pollinating under butterfly netting, oh dear we hadn't thought of that.
Can anyone advise me which veggies would need to bee pollinated to produce?
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lancashire lass
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Re: using butterfly netting

Post by lancashire lass »

Butterfly netting has a wide mesh which despite its name, is not good netting for cabbages - butterflies can still get through. Go for something with a much smaller mesh (I used to use pond netting that had a 1 cm sq mesh, but have since moved on to debris/scaffold netting or you could use enviromesh)

Pollinating veg - actually, there aren't that many. Peas and beans tend to be self pollinating although bees do visit and probably help nature. I think the one crop that will be significantly affected will be the squashes and courgettes. Tomatoes and aubergines are self pollinating although like the peas and beans, visitors knock the flowers which help move the pollen about.
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Mo
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Re: using butterfly netting

Post by Mo »

Runner beans need pollinating I think*, but you wouldn't net them, the only time they are vulnerable is when just coming through and the slugs get them

*or is it that bees go for the nectar, I've heard about bumble bees biting into the flowers instead of using the front door. And if they didn't need pollinating why would they have nectar.

I suppose, thinking about it, pollination is to set seeds, so anything you eat the seeds or fruit of might need it, if you eat the leaves, stem or roots probably not.
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kitla
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Re: using butterfly netting

Post by kitla »

Well if some butterflies could still get through I suppose the bees wouldn't have much
trouble. Dh wont let me grow things like courgettes inside the new bed, (they take up
too much space and no one eats them but me - boring lot!) so they will grow outside
the net, the beans probably will too. I think we'll have to be prepared to get some
finer netting to throw over the cabbages if the butterflies do get in.
Thanks for the tips.
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lancashire lass
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Re: using butterfly netting

Post by lancashire lass »

Mo wrote:And if they didn't need pollinating why would they have nectar


Most still need pollinating, but not necessarily from another plant - but the nectar making genes still switch on as normal. Parthenogenic varieties on the other hand don't need pollinating - a couple of cucumber and courgette varieties - and are perfect for growing in greenhouses.

kitla wrote:Dh wont let me grow things like courgettes inside the new bed, (they take up
too much space and no one eats them but me - boring lot!) so they will grow outside the net, the beans probably will too.


as Mo says, slugs & snails are more likely to be a problem when they are still young and tender but once they mature, they'll be fine )t'
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Re: using butterfly netting

Post by Meanqueen »

A couple of years ago I built wooden frames over my brassica beds, and covered them with old net curtains, no holes in them. The flutterby's still got in somehow and laid their eggs. I gave up after that and stick to peas and beans, courgettes and root vegetables. Good luck.
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billnorfolk
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Re: using butterfly netting

Post by billnorfolk »

debris netting as LL says is the better option keeps a lot of other uninvited guests out as well.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Scaffold-Debr ... 4619274b71

Any of your brassicas will thrive under it ,most of the things I grow are all under net apart from tomatoes ,cucumbers and courgettes
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bmpsands
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Re: using butterfly netting

Post by bmpsands »

Never thought of debris netting. We lost a lot of kale etc to cabbage white caterpillars last year. This year I'm determined to TAKE STEPS! We had been advised to use fleece, but that seems like quite an expensive option compared to the netting in the helpful link.

Having never used anything like this before, when is it safe to remove it or do is the netting light enough to be pushed up by the plants?
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billnorfolk
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Re: using butterfly netting

Post by billnorfolk »

bmpsands wrote:Never thought of debris netting. We lost a lot of kale etc to cabbage white caterpillars last year. This year I'm determined to TAKE STEPS! We had been advised to use fleece, but that seems like quite an expensive option compared to the netting in the helpful link.

Having never used anything like this before, when is it safe to remove it or do is the netting light enough to be pushed up by the plants?


Leave it on all the time,better over a frame to hold net up and keep pests out..
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lancashire lass
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Re: using butterfly netting

Post by lancashire lass »

better make it a fairly sturdy frame ... the stormy weather we had over winter knocked mine over LOL
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