Hello and Protecting Small Plants

[Home Baked Education]

Hi Everyone

I just joined after lurking for a while and am jumping straight in with a question, hope that's ok.

I took on a very large allotment this summer after waiting two years. The plot was in a pretty bad way and I've cleared quite a lot of it successfully but worked a bit too hard and injured myself so haven't got everything done I had hoped by now.
A while ago, in a bid to keep up morale, I ordered a winter vegetable garden and the plants arrived today earlier than I was expecting :o/. They look much smaller and more vulnerable than I was (naively) expecting too and I could do with some tips about how to protect them from pests - mainly slugs and snails but also anything else I haven't thought of!
The plants are mostly brassicas and leeks. They need planting out asap so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[red]

welcome

we keep the slug population down by going out killing slugs every night... not nice but it works. however not so easy on a lottie...

There are organic slug pellets that are ok.. but they are pricey. you could also consider potting your brassicas on, and letting them get a tad bigger.. and keeping them nearer to home where you can protect them from slugs easier?

leeks will prolly be ok with slugs.

hope you get over your injury soon, and are back tackling the jungle

[Millymollymandy]

Hi and welcome!

Caterpillars and brassicas go together unfortunately. I go on caterpillar patrol (like Red with her slugs ) but my veg patch is at home so it is easier to do.

[Cheezy]

As the two ladies said above, plus pidgeons for us, and club root and cabbage fly!.

It depends on how small your brassica's are, If they are say 10+ cm tall , and the roots are showing I would get them in the ground

They will shoot off, they need to get the most of the late sun to be a reasonable size in winter.

1.Slugs, as above, I also use the organic slug pellets, when I first plant the small plants, as a slug can completely devistate it. While when bigger I let then have a go and kill em if I see em.
2. Bloody cabbage white butterfly's and their catapillers. As 3M, also if you put a net over them until the first frosts (has to be no more than 1 cm holes, I have the 2 cm stuff and the beggers get through!) This will also help with:
3. Pidgeons, of the Wood variety, they are a menice and completely strip a cabbage of it's leaves in a night, net as above. Or shoot and make a nice tastey roast
4. cabbage fly, lay eggs at the base of the cabbage and the maggots eat the roots then it dies. Out of cardboard box make a square 10cm x 10cm, cut a slit half way through and make a hole in the centre, put this around the stem of your cabbage.
OR get a 2L plastic drinks bottle cut off the top and bottom and put over the whole plant ,it will help with all 4. plus help stop the plant rock in the wind, eventually it'll grow out the top.
Brassica's like lots of muck, and lots of lime, lime will also help reduce club root.

Leeks....don't worry about them! They're great, I occasionally get some wood pidgeon attention but not often.

get them in ASAP. Dib a hole about10cm deep and 1-2 cm wide, trim the roots and leaf slightly (this encourages growth)
drop them in to the hole, do not fill in the hole but fill it with water.

Oh hi, welcome to ishishness

[Millymollymandy]

Oh and just to add to all these woes, there's the flea beetle which loves brassicas...... if the plants are too small they will be decimated by flea beetles making little holes all over the leaves and they'll never recover. The plants need to be of a certain size to withstand the attack, which (at least here) generally dies down as August goes by. I can't grow rocket or radishes until the end of August.

[ina]

Oh and just to add to all these woes, there's the flea beetle (

... and possibly rabbits, which love all of the above - including leeks! Soooo - covers all round, I think.

Don't let that put you off - and welcome to Ish!

[becks77]

Hi,
Welcome to Ish, I too have an allotment but grow all seedlings at home until they are big enough to leave then they get netted and patrolled, not quite as regularly as would be really good for them but it seems to work