Patridge bantam chicken poorly foot?

[Egluntyne]

Not wanting to derail Couperman's thread about electric fences for slugs with more info about Diatom in the garden, I thought I'd mention that it is reported to be effective against Cabbage Root Fly, Carrot Root Fly and Aphids as welll as slugs and snails.

 

It is not harmful to earthworms, in fact Wiggly Wigglers sell it to keep wormeries free from flies.

 

It certainly has impressed me with its usefulness around tender young seedlings.

 

You do have to reapply it after heavy rain, but that is no big deal.

[The Dogmother]

Thanks, I shall give that a try, especially the wormery which is inundated with fruit flies.

[Lesley]

Will it deal with caterpillars?

 

My brassicas are still battling with caterpillars

[The Dogmother]

I gave up with mine Lesley, despite being netted, they were covered in them. I gave the caterpillars to the chickens, and shared the plants out between them and the bunnies

 

Have admitted defeat!

[Egluntyne]

It appears to be useful against some caterpillars according to 'tinterweb, so I'd give it a try.

 

There's nothing to lose if the blighters are going to ruin the plants anyway. Grrrrr.

[Lesley]

I have left my skeletal brassicas in - I'm hoping they'll pick up once we have some cold weather.

[chickencam]

my cabbages that were stripped in August are starting to fill out and heart up

 

We took the enviromesh off our sprouts and purple sprouting on Saturday because the whitefly had found their way in and we thought we had better let the elements at them a bit. No sooner had we taken it off than there were 3 cabbage whites flying around hopefully they were too late and it has turned a bit colder now

[TAJ]

I find the horse bedding used in the chicken run is excellent around brassica's at stopping slugs getting close - make sure you rub eggs off the underside of leaves before caterpillars develop.

 

Tracy

[Matthew]

my cabbages that were stripped in August are starting to fill out and heart up

 

We took the enviromesh off our sprouts and purple sprouting on Saturday because the whitefly had found their way in and we thought we had better let the elements at them a bit. No sooner had we taken it off than there were 3 cabbage whites flying around hopefully they were too late and it has turned a bit colder now

 

Its time to take it off now anyway... could turn into an effective sail if any gales arrive too

[Valkyrie]

With regard to caterpillars, at one of the veggie talks we attended yonks ago, the fellow said to put some garden lime in the watering can, add water and sprinkle it over the cabbage plants. Apparently it deters the butterflies from laying eggs on them plus the cabbages like the lime anyway. Don't know if it works though. If I remember rightly it makes a powdery protective layer on the leaves that can be easily washed off when you want to eat them. I did take notes, but the notepad is somewhere around the house . . .

[Lesley]

I'll try to remember that one for next year.

[chickencam]

Me too