Return to the Vegetable Gardening Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
Insect barrier fabric - Thank you!
| | |
Posted by
wlynnp_TN 7a (
My Page) on
Wed, May 14, 14 at 9:54
| At the beginning of the season I was reading in the forum about covering eggplants to protect them from the dreaded flea beetles. I decided to give it a try since last years eggplants were destroyed. I am amazed at how well it works. I've had them covered for three weeks and they look fantastic. They are starting to bloom so I will have to take the covers off soon. I'm going to experiment with Kaolin clay to see if that will work for the remainder of the season. I wanted to post to say thank you for the good advice. keep it up! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Insect barrier fabric - Thank you!
| | |
- Posted by digdirt 6b-7a North AR (My Page) on
Wed, May 14, 14 at 10:40
| Eggplants are self-fertile (aka self-pollinating) so as long as there is air movement under the cover they don't have to be uncovered if you don't wish to. You can also hand pollinate the blooms easily. Dave |
RE: Insect barrier fabric - Thank you!
| | |
| I have used nylon/French tulle to protect eggplants from Flea Beetles. It works. But when they are smaller. Ones they mature and start flowering, flea damage is not going to do substantial harm. Though leavin the tulle on is ok to, as it is light weight, lets air, rain, light come in. You can use it to deter rabbits too. |
RE: Insect barrier fabric - Thank you!
| | |
| I've never worried about the flea beetles.. they make tons of tiny holes in the leaves on my eggplants every year, but I have never noticed any effect on the production, so I just leave them be. |
RE: Insect barrier fabric - Thank you!
| | |
| The damage on my plants last year was so bad that most of them died...there was more holes than leaves. I didn't think of that, Dave.....might be a good idea though. I didn't have enough fabric to build a tunnel...it's just draped over the cages and stapled to stakes...next year I'll get enough fabric to build a tunnel for them...and maybe the peppers as well. |
RE: Insect barrier fabric - Thank you!
| | |
| I thought about using tulle...it would certainly be cheaper than the fabric I got. |
RE: Insect barrier fabric - Thank you!
| | |
| I have used tulle with great success, but if you have some old window screens, sometimes a vertical screen enclosure, open at the top, is effective with eggplant flea beetles. Your plants look beautiful! |
RE: Insect barrier fabric - Thank you!
| | |
| I am a strong advocate for 'Surround ', the kaolin clay product. I presume that's what you are going to use. I first started using it for sun and heat protection of my veggies, especially tomatoes (the actual fruit) and various squash (the foliage) but it didn't take long to see its anti-feedant and anti-egg laying qualities. I think that it was during peak Japanese beetle time that I couldn't help but observe that treated plants were of no interest to those pesky beetles. |
RE: Insect barrier fabric - Thank you!
| | |
| yes, I just got the Surround in the mail yesterday. as soon as the storms move out of the area I plan on spraying all of the vegetables with that. I purchased Take Down spray earlier in the season, which is pyrethrin mixed with canola, but there seems to be some photo-toxicity with that so I am hesitant to use it. I am looking at mixing Serenade and Actinovate with the Surround....still researching that. |
RE: Insect barrier fabric - Thank you!
| | |
| Planatus, I think I will get some tulle for my squash before the SVB's get busy. even with the Kaolin clay I think the additional preventative measure is a great idea! |
Post a Follow-Up
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in.
If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Vegetable Gardening Forum
Information about Posting
- You must be logged in to post a message. Once you are logged in, a posting window will appear at the bottom of the messages. If you are not a member, please register for an account.
- Please review our Rules of Play
before posting.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you
will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review your
post, make changes and upload photos.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in
order to see it.
- Before posting copyrighted material, please read about Copyright and Fair Use.
- We have a strict no-advertising
policy!
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit
our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we
will be happy to help.
Learn more about in-text links on this page here
