Kohl Rabi....yet again....

[Mrs Ava]

OKay, as planned, kohl rabi planted out and currently under fleece.  I am hoping the slugs and snails stay off my plot as the chap 2 plots along has coated his plot in slug pellets!  As they are a member of the brassica family, will the pigeons gobble them up if I take the fleece off?  I do have some chicken wire, but not enough to cover the whole row at the moment....Ava is working on a more permanent brassica pigeon p*sser offer.  Thanks oh wise ones.  ;D

[Mrs Ava]

[gavin]

Emma Jane - you have the friendliest, most accommodating, most generous neighbour ever.

Just DO NOT TELL HIM!  With the first rain, the poison in his pellets washes away.  And for the three-four months following?  He has neat little piles of blue-coloured dog-food and yeast attracting slugs and snails from all the plots around.  Slugs and snails do not see blue!  But, by heck, they like yeast and dog-food.

Better still, try telling him!  Anything like our site, he'll be so offended that he'll carry on, with even more pellets, just to prove you wrong!  ;D  ;D  ;D

Shhhhhhhhhhh!  Not a word!

All best - Gavin

[Mrs Ava]

hehehe, I know Gavin, when I saw what he had done I thought of you from one of your earlier posts about pellets.  I'm not telling him thats for sure, he is one of those who takes pleasure in having little pops at me and what I am doing.  Hell, he is welcome to the slugs and snails  ;D

[Hugh_Jones]

EJ, as Gavin has beaten me to it over the slug pellets, I can only answer your question re pigeons.  The short answer is YES - and it isn`t only brassicas that they gobble up - but kohl rabi foliage as not quite as tender and juicy as (say) cabbage, so leave the fleece on long enough for the foliage to harden up slightly and they should be o.k.

[Mrs Ava]

Thanks for that chaps.  So, fleece will stay on for the time being.  Don't suppose it will do any harm anyhow, keep them cosy, altho I was a little concerned that it might flatten them a bit.  I have it loose-ish, but didn't want it flapping around.  Oh well, only a week or so and Ava will sort me out something to protect them, I'm sure.

Scared now though, what else do they eat?  We have lots of pigeons around and it is bad enough battling the slugs and snails, let alone the bird life!

[Hugh_Jones]

Well, EJ, I`ll simply mention the the time when I was too lazy to net my early peas the day after the first shoots appeared.  The next morning there were half a dozen wood pigeons strutting about the row, and all the peas had been cropped off at ground level.  I suppose it all depends on how many pigeons there are and what else is on offer - but if they`re hungry enough they`ll crop virtually anything small and tender - and we`ve got an awful lot of them.

[gavin]

Hi Emma Jane - something that often works; weaving string/twine/thread across a bed criss-cross fashion, and keeping it fairly intact while plants are young and tender.

I know some people choose black thread so the birds don't see it, catch their wings, and don't come back again - but I use any garden twine, green or natural, guessing that birds can see and will avoid string "traps".  Using visible twine or string also keeps our allotment fox off.

All best - Gavin