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Re: Burrowing Fly

Allan Day wrote:
> 
> On Sun 17 May, Neason wrote:
> 
> > Allan, I've never had good results with the collars.  I've tried sveral
> > materials but the fly always seems to lay her eggs in the "seam" between
> > stem and collar.  But I have had excellent results with Reemay mesh
> > keeping the cabbage fly out.  I have some superb cabbages this year and
> > the broccoli and cauliflower are starting to head out nicely.  100%
> > survival so far versus 50-80% losses in past years!
> Thanks for all the info.
> Just to get things straight, I presume that when you talk about Reemay
> mesh you are talking about a lightweight mesh which you put over the
> whole crop which lets light and air and rain through but stops all
> insects and usually slugs,snails and birds,and filters the wind. Over
> here we buy it as Agralan Enviromesh. Yes, it is good stuff, I bought a
> 100 metre roll and am using it for several things, but with my crop rows
> of c. 1ooft. that doesn't go far and I have to justify its cost. The
> other problem is wind and anchoring it down. We are on an exposed
> hillside and get our worst wind from our downhill (South) side. Last
> winter we lost the whole 27x12ft. garage roof. We saw it lift off in one
> piece, somersault and land upside down and shatter all the panels and
> twist the metalwork. It cost us three months work and a lot of money to
> replace it. So I am reluctant to do anything that the wind can
> destroy.Some people say bury the edges in a trench but this stops you
> tending the crops on a regular basis.  The alternative, heavy weights
> with handles, is more time and money, but I think we will have to do it
> as and when we can. We do find our 65x18ft polytunnels afford similar
> total protection and of course we can work in these in all weathers.
> --
> Allan Day 41 Villa St. Hereford HR2 7AU allan@crwys.demon.co.uk
> Tel:- 01432 275443 (+answer m/c)

Allan,

I grow my brassicas in beds which are covered all winter with a 12-24cm
layer of horse manure and sawdust.  The covering keeps the soil weedfree
and friable.  The silty clay soil I have doesn't recover from the winter
rains very well if it is exposed.

I remove the manure/sawdust cover in mid-March and use it to mulch peas,
which I plant right on the soil surface, again to avoid having to till
the wet ground.  The brassicas are planted in the bed and I use wire
hoop-style edging to hold the spun polyester cloth (Reemay) taut so it
doesn't flap in the wind and damage the seedlings (which are started in
flats in early Feb and moved to pots when the first true leaf appears).

I hold the edges of the Reemay down with the sawdust/manure mix, and I
don't remove the cover more than twice until it is permanently removed
in mid-May.  By then the plants are tough enough to resist the maggot. 
(I only remove the cover to pull out the chickweed which seems to be the
only weed that survives the winter cover.)

We get some pretty fierce winter winds (Dec 24, 1983 we had 103kt) but
by March they are pretty much over.  We might get 20kt winds in spring.

I used to grow 30 meter rows of brassica, but at 70 plants per row with
50-70% losses I'd end up with 40 or so decent plants.  With my new
technique I get that many good plants out of three 1 by 4 meter beds.

Steve
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