I know what you mean; I sometimes wonder whether it is worth persisting with Brassicas. I think you really have to net, and make sure your netting is not touching the leaves as they grow (I have watched cabbage white butterflies laying eggs through the netting). The caterpilllars are a problem but usually if your plants are well-fed they will grow new leaves and eventually produce a crop when you need it in the spring. I usually manage to get a good crop of sprouting broccoli. The pigeons are another matter...if I don't net the plants the pigeons will eat the lot over the winter. It is just about worth persevering given the price of fresh PSB in the shops these days. Cabbages are too much bother, in my view, as I hate cleaning them and they get so much slug damage. Cabbages and cauliflower are also cheaper to buy.
I too decided not to grow brassicas again. They don't like my sandy soil anyway and even with netting, those cabbage whites kept finding a way in and thumbing their noses at me. But I will grow cavelo nero and chard as they do OK and I love them both.
I gave up on brassicas too apart from curly kale which still needs netting, the worst for insects that I have found was the year when I grew some great looking Broccoli which I examined for caterpillars but my wife found one while cooking that put us both off.
@MikeOxgreen Another sympathiser here. White butterfly and snails are particularly evil this year - and i's all aimed at my brassicas! (which are netted)....as for the Pak Choy - a holy (holey) lot!
The weather has been so mild the caterpillars keep coming and the Winter Broccoli in the PT has had a bad attack of some grey aphid things. I wonder where the caterpillars are coming from as there haven't been any butterflies around for since August/September, that's 3 - 4 months of them attacking now.
The sprouts which have grown more recently seem a lot tighter, probably due to the cooler, wetter weather, I'm hoping this means there is less chance of things hiding in them....
I grow Kohl rabi every year which seems fairly bombproof. My Cavelo Nero and dwarf kale have been chewed by flea beetle this year..a pest I'm not normally troubled with. I've tried growing swede but the slugs n snails like 'em more than I do, and they're cheap enough to buy. I might try celeriac one year..never tried growing it.
Chris-P-Bacon my kohlrabi were largely untouched, maybe because they were all harvested before the cabbage whites came and I didn't do a second crop. A slug or something did take a chomp out of a couple, but nothing too bad. Oddly enough the slugs are leaving the swede, have had no issues with it. I've grown celery successfully enough and nothing seems to touch it, it must be the taste. Nothing will touch garlic either for the same reason (and the smell) Might try some celeriac next year and fennel.
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I wonder where the caterpillars are coming from as there haven't been any butterflies around for since August/September, that's 3 - 4 months of them attacking now.
The sprouts which have grown more recently seem a lot tighter, probably due to the cooler, wetter weather, I'm hoping this means there is less chance of things hiding in them....
to deal with the pests.
I've grown celery successfully enough and nothing seems to touch it, it must be the taste. Nothing will touch garlic either for the same reason (and the smell) Might try some celeriac next year and fennel.