The Devil's Advocate wrote:

sw wrote:

[-]

: Sadly the butterflies will in fact lay eggs on the mesh itself where
: it's in contact with the leaves. Some of the resultant teeny-tiny
: caterpillars so seem to have made their way through the mesh, as I've
: found them on the foliage, but only where the leaves are in contact
: with
: the mesh. I'm going to try to construct a proper structure from which
: to suspend the mesh next summer.
:
: But the leaves of the unprotected late sowing of turnips definitely
: resemble lace :-(

I've just been up crushing caterpillars and you are right, they do get
through, but the cabbages with the fine mesh net have far less than the
wider mesh net so I think it is a bit of a help

oh, yes. And it's satisfying to watch the **** butterflies bouncing off
the mesh where they can't get to the plants. I did try scattering
aromatic herbs (wormwood) on the mesh to try to confuse them, but the
only thing that really worked was my Gardener's citronella spray :-)

regards
sarah


--
Think of it as evolution in action.