Darn pigeons eating my brassicas!

[Christine]

I think they'll recover if the growing tip is still there and the feathered foes only took the leaves. Leave them for a week or so and see what happens, perhaps.

[Cheezy]

It's weird , everyone around my plot suffers from the flying rats (wood pidgeons)

But we don't so much. Last week my neighbour asked me how the caverlo nero was going, as the 4 I gave him , long with his own cabbages and cauliflowers were all eaten.

THe only difference between the plots are I have a solid fence, raised beds, and wait for it 2L pop bottles, with the bottoms cut off, tied to canes by a long peice of string, set at an angle so that any wind at all moves them around and bangs them against the cane. Don't know if it's this, but we have so far been lucky.

[Urban Ayisha]

my kales are all leafless stems too. am thinking that if they grow back sturdy metal cage is the thing for it!

[Christine]

Is that curly kale? If so - it explains what happened to the plants that were unprotected on my allotment!

[AnnieR]

Never mind pidgeons, who are bad enough,
but my flippin chickens have just decimated half of my veggie plot!

I have NO beetroot left - (about 20 plants) save but the stalks,
and half my years curly kale is gone

and they did it in just under an hour (the school run)
its a good job there was such a small time limit - Ive got loads growing this year. I guess I'm spending the day putting up protective fencing - ho hum!

Annie

[MikeM]

just been up the plot and it seems that the slugs have done for the brassicas I put in last weekend. I netted and rabbit fenced off the whole plot, so they're the only culprits left. And this was after I put down all manner of deterants and those fancy new pellets. Never been lucky with brassica...

[ina]

My walking stick kale are leafless stems, too - but that was my b***y goats - again!

[Enormous Sage]

Hmmm. I sympathise having lost 4 * 50m rows of brassicas to a pair of Red Legged Partridges last year.

That's interesting, I lost a load of Brassicas and never found the culprit - we have Partridges around here, I can sometimes hear them sqwuaking away in the evening.
*goes off to borrow shotgun from farmer...*

[Christine]

My walking stick kale are leafless stems, too

Walking stick kale! I've been wanting to try that since I heard about it. Where did you get the seeds?

If the slugs are approaching across the earth, rather than already hiding in the plants, try coffee grounds - I got a load of old grounds from Costa and it really works.

[ina]

Walking stick kale! I've been wanting to try that since I heard about it. Where did you get the seeds?

I'm pretty sure it was the Organic Gardening Catalogue - have to see if I still have the bag left to be 100% certain. The couple that survived my first attempt at growing them have become quite tall; they were ravaged once by cows leaning over the fence , and a couple of times by my goats who found holes in the fence where there were no holes before...

OK, I had planted them mainly as goat feed anyway - but I had wanted to make the decision myself on when to feed it to them!

[The Prehistorian]

Went to my plot yeasterday and similar sight....all the sprouts and broccoli had been ravaged.

I had netting up but it looked like one of the scoundrals had dive bombed it - feathers everywhere.....hope he's learnt his lesson.

Back to the "It's a Pound" shop for more nets - 2mx10m for a £1, but they'd sold out

Anyone know where I can buy a low mileage Peregrine Falcon ?

[clare]

Little blighters munched their way through all my brassicas last year so I contructed a tunnel today out of roll of 5" square mesh we had here when we moved in and covered the whole lot with fleece and fingers crossed it will do the trick but any suggestions on the mouse in my patch eating seeds and leaves??I wondered why my beans hadn't germinated then realised the seeds had been eaten!!
Clare