patsylabrador Posted June 13, 2010 Share Posted June 13, 2010 Does anyone know what to do if your cabbages are covered in grey aphids. Do you just pull them up and give up on them, can they be saved, can they be given to the chickens? The plants look healthy enough. It's not all of them, just four, I keep them covered in fleece as I had to rescue a robin chick from the netting. Thanks for any advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patsylabrador Posted June 14, 2010 Author Share Posted June 14, 2010 Also, overnight, something must have thought the fleece looked like a cosy place to sit and has squashed loads of my cauliflower, cabbages and kale. I'm giving up on covering them, so if anyone has any tips not involving chemicals, I would be very grateful. The garden is full of little birds so I'm hoping they'll be busy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 You could try spraying them with a washing up liquid and water solution. That works on most aphids! I have to cover all my brassicas as the cabbage white butterfly is a real pain around here. I have swede and kohlrabi to plant out today. I made a cage out of chicken wire to cover the plants, but have a feeling the butterflies will still get in Good luck with your cabbages Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&T Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 Mine were so bad last year the chooks had them all.... They didn't appear to mind the extra protein! I am trying AGAIN this year - but if it fails again this is the last year!! (although I think I said that last year too...) So am also interested to hear any tips.... Will certainly try the washing up liquid trick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 We usually cover our brassicas with Enviromesh, but we have found that it doesn't seem to stop them getting grey aphids, infact it seems to make the problem worse by not letting any predators in. We like to keep the cabbage white butterflies off them particularly the cauliflower and brocolli.We have those under cover this year and the things that can grow out of caterpillar damage like sprouts and PSB we are growing out in the open. If we get too much grey aphid on the sprouts we will give up on these after many years of trying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patsylabrador Posted June 16, 2010 Author Share Posted June 16, 2010 Thanks for the advice, I hadn't thought of a rigid cage, I shall try and build one, should be fun to watch. I think the fleece was making a lovely home for the aphids and yesterday there were loads of starlings feeding like crazy around the brassicas. I earthed up my squashed plants and I think they'll be ok. I suspect it was baby squirrels bouncing on the fleece, we inherited the squirrels when we moved in nearly thirty years ago, they have a dray in a pear tree and they give me more enjoyment than irritation so I shall forgive them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted June 17, 2010 Share Posted June 17, 2010 Apparently. squirrels taste good We made rigid frames using 2' 6"high x 6' long x 4' wide trellis panels, covered with enviromesh and with a flap over lid stapled to a length of dowelling to weight it down. Not very pretty if your veg beds can be seen from the house though! We have had fantastic brassicas since. They keep the butterflies out and pigeons off and we haven't had any aphid problem, the odd snail creeps in and you have to keep an eye out for slugs. You can get a finer mesh than enviromesh so that would keep out aphids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
