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What is eating my brassica seedlings? They’re in butterfly netting 🤷🏻‍♀️

jo.pengelleyjo.pengelley Posts: 9
in Fruit & veg


please can someone help solve my conundrum... I have brassica seedlings inside a cage with butterfly netting (kale, romanesco, broccoli raab), the netting hasn’t been lifted once since sowing the seeds but all of them have been eaten as above. The backups in fibre pots in the greenhouse are fine. Not sure what to do to try and save them? I’ve never grown a successful crop due to pests so this year forked our for a beautiful HH frame and butterfly netting, but wondering whether it was all in vain. Many thanks, Jo

Posts

  • tui34tui34 Posts: 3,493
    Snails maybe - we have the conical shaped type here and they seems to live under the ground.  Very dangerous species!!!  I planted lettuces in a tunnel house about  a month ago - I have used ash (from the fire), coffee grounds to no avail.  You may have to try commercial pellets but toxic for the hedgehogs!!
    A good hoeing is worth two waterings.

  • jo.pengelleyjo.pengelley Posts: 9
    Thanks - I’ll try some slug/snail stuff. They’re in new raised beds which are being used for the first time (with freshly bought compost/topsoil) and they’re 61 cm high and surrounded by gravel - so had hoped Slugs/snails couldn’t easily get in. It’s so frustrating that brassicas seem so hard to grow when they’re my favourites to eat! At least the beds are too high for a hedgehog to reach so I can use pellets in good conscience!
  • SkylarksSkylarks Posts: 379
    Hmm, flea beetle maybe?!
  • tui34tui34 Posts: 3,493
    Slugs and snails can move along a razor blade!
    A good hoeing is worth two waterings.

  • GrannybeeGrannybee Posts: 332
    I think Skylarks has it! I had this problem last year and the only way I solved it was to put weed fabric down underneath the plants and over the soil. It worked and my kale grew very strongly after that. It was a bit tricky to do - I had to cut it into strips to lay beneath the plants, making sure the strips overlapped. Sometimes you can see the flea beetle - tiny black beetles which jump if you wave your hand over the plants. 
    I became quite obsessed with this last year....!
  • jo.pengelleyjo.pengelley Posts: 9
    Thank you! I will order some now!
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