Susan, you and Bill have a gorgeous garden! The tips, garden structures, and planting knowledge that you impart are always timely and very much appreciated. Thank you so much. I hope you have a lovely week ahead. ~Margie🐝💐🦋
Good stuff! I'm just starting to do this. Mostly was having issues with squirrels. But now the robins are in my beds all day picking away at worms, insects and they also ate all my chard seeds. This worked in the one bed I placed it.
Thank you for this look into row covers. I have been gardening for years and never had issues that made me need row covers, but this past week I have had an invasion of quail in my garden. Im in the desert SW in zone 8a and dont need much for frost protection with my winter crops, but this year the quail have completely eaten all my bok choy and kale, leaving mostly stems. I'm hoping once I get it covered that it will grow back.🤞 I have always set out bird feeders and put seed on the ground for the quail and birds, but it hasn't been sufficient this year. They love my greens too.
I'm glad it was helpful. We have a lot of California quail in our garden and we love them, but we definitely need to protect young plants and certain types of greens from them!
I mainly use voile curtain fabric. It'll last 3 to 4 years until it starts to degrade and I have to pull it. I find netting snags on everything and rips easily, the bugs can still get through and the deer try to eat the plants right through it. Fleece is far too delicate and rips easily. I began using up lengths of coloured voiles I had in my fabric "stash" and now I'll get them wherever it's cheapest or free. I don't mind patching bits together to make up the large sizes I need. It also looks quite cute. I use the coloured ones in the hidden part of the garden and will tone it down at the front. Next year I'll be adding hoops and/or frames and plan to create channels in the voile to thread long bits of wood through so that it's easy to lift the voile over an entire bed in one go - also easier in windy weather. Perhaps the year after I'll get some of those lids in place. Busy piecing two new pieces I got from a charity shop (about 6 metres in total) and they only wanted a tiny donation. I also keep an eye on recycling sites and a look out for second hand voiles being sold cheaply.
Hello, Amelia. Thank you so much for sharing your tips. The agricultural insect netting is almost impossible to tear, and believe me, I've tried with some sample pieces of it because I was curious to learn how strong it is. I haven't had any aphids get through the mesh at all or animals trying to eat plants right through it. It could be that the netting available to you is different than the netting that I'm using?? However, I'm very glad you are having good luck with the voile fabric. The only thing I would be curious about is if there are any concerns about the dyes used to color them getting onto the plants.
I've been using agricultural insect netting for several years and I wouldn't be without it! Here in Canada, we can get a stretchy netting that's easy to work with, but I have found that it does tear somewhat easily, especially after a couple of years, even though it is UV stabilized. Your netting looks similar to the UK's micromesh which seems a bit stiffer and much more durable...it's on my list but they have been out of stock of the size I need for a few months now but I'll keep trying!
Really good review of the different row covers. One thing I also like about your videos is that you begin by saying where you are located and which zone. I also like the agricultural insect netting too and another thing it helps with is hail protection. Love the flip top cover for your bed.
Hi, Joyce. I'm trying to be really good about mentioning our hardiness zone! Wow, I didn't think about hail protection but that's good to know. There was a big hailstorm in Spokane Valley yesterday (east of where we live) and the hailstones were the size of golf balls. Eek.
@@SusansInTheGarden I’m glad you were spared the hailstorm. Our region is known as hail alley and we’ve seen some really bad ones. The netting might not stop the big hailstones but even something helps.
Love yr covers. Here in Qld Australia I only need to hand water my beds every 4 weeks in summer and 6 weeks in winter no irrigation pipe required due to using wood mulch. My fine herbs and soft lettuces love it.
Hi Susan, really enjoyed your video in which you compare row covers. Here in The UK I use a wide range of covers depending on seasons and what pests I want to exclude etc. We have been subscribed to your channel for months and are following you. Have you viewed our Early August Garden Tour ? Best Wishes, Paul & Nadj.
Love your videos Susan and Thank you. I have the bell so I get notice everytime I release a new video. 😊 Can I ask, do you just remove the AG Netting from the frame when you're done with it for the season or do you remove the entire hinged lid including hoops? I love your hoop house BTW. Best looking one I've seen so far!
Thank you so much. This is our first growing season to use ag fabric but we're planning to remove the 2 hinged lids for the winter months and moving them into an outbuilding. So glad you like our hoop house. If you'd like to see more on it, here's a link to when we built it: www.susansinthegarden.com/?s=hoop+house+project. Thanks again for your kind words.
Oh, that's awful. I'm so sorry. Grasshoppers can chew through some types of row covers (mainly floating row cover) so you'll probably want to try the ag insect netting.
@@SusansInTheGarden that's nice to know they can chew thru row covers. These were the Big green grasshoppers that brought their own silverware to the table. Non stop eaters.
Great video, Susan, as usual! Your hinged row cover frames look great and are quite similar to the ones I have built. I'm overwhelmed with curiosity about how you retained the bottom of the hoops to the frame! Your method looks much better than what I did...what kind of brackets did you use??? They aren't really visible in the video.
Hi there. I'm so glad you enjoyed the video. If I could post a photo of just the row cover top here, I would. But if you send an email to me at Susan@SusansintheGarden.com, I would be happy to share a couple of photos so you can better see how it went together. It is one of the DIY projects in my book, The Vegetable Garden Problem Solver Handbook.
Hello! I haven't thought of that. We have good luck with the copper rings around the base of plants such as broccoli, cabbage and kale (see this video for clarification: ruclips.net/video/e3KlS9YfWY0/видео.html); we have also used organic slug bait (containing iron phosphate); or beer traps. Do you know which species of nematodes are effective against slugs? When I check U.S. suppliers of beneficial nematodes, none of them mention using them for slugs. I'm intrigued!
@SusansInTheGarden There's lots of videos on RUclips about nematodes. Perhaps Tony's video (ruclips.net/video/Gg1cosZY6k0/видео.htmlsi=szyQvzvCQ4QvwBK0 ) would be a good place to start.
Hi there. It is a DIY project in my book, The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook (which is about dealing with insect pests organically). If you want to purchase the book, here's my affiliate link to it on Amazon: amzn.to/3PB5LDN. Otherwise, you could check it out from your local library branch to see the step-by-step instructions. Cheers.
I am in a microclimate here in spokane valley as well. I totally love your garden. Do you ever do book signings or anything where you can meet your viewers?
I recommend 30% to 50% shade cloth, depending on how hot it gets. 30% is pretty gentle. I think we're all going to need to invest in some for this summer!
Hello! First of all, those white pipes are not part of the bed cover system. They're actually just 10" tall lengths of white PVC pipe that I have used for another hoop system. But the hinged cover that you see on the bed is one of the do-it-yourself projects in my book, The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook, which is all about insect identification and dealing with them organically in the garden. If you are interested in getting a signed copy from me, just let me know. Or you could probably borrow a copy of the book from a public library, but my book is an invaluable resource primarily for vegetable gardening.
@@SusansInTheGardenhi Susan! Thank you for the reply. I live in Australia 🇦🇺 so I’m not sure if your insects are the same as mine but i guess they’d be very similar. Thanks again Noni x
I used the Ag netting for the first time this year in my first veg garden. My brocs were a good 6 inches tall or more and what I found was that somehow I guess I trapped some critters inside the netting and they decimated the leaves on the brocs and I found that the flying critters, (I don't know what they were exactly yet) were having babies and attaching them to the top of the hoops. I failed completely and got just the opposite result than what I had intended. So maybe I used the cover too late and trapped what was already in there? I secured the cover to the ground with garden staples. I just recently found your site and so appreciate your videos and your suggestions and recently bought your Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook.
Hi there. First of all, thank you for buying my bug book! Second, there are 2 things to keep in mind when using any type of row cover. 1) Cover your planting as soon as you sow the seeds or plant the seedlings. 2) Don't plant the same types of crops in the same beds year after year. It's possible you had some type of cabbage worm in that bed last year, and if they overwintered in a cocoon, then they would hatch... although you would need both sexes so they could mate and the female could lay eggs. But that's a possibility of what happened to your plants this year, if you did cover the planting right away this spring.
@@bjohnson6586 Well, don't beat yourself up over it because we all make mistakes. But we learn from them and that's what makes us better gardeners! I've made every mistake in the book, LOL.
Do you have a video where you share how you put your hoops on the beds. Can you put boiling water on the soil to kill insects that harbor in the soil from last year? Thanks for the Ag fabric link.
Hi, RB! Do you mean the special fitted cover like what's in the cover photo of this video, or how we put regular hoops on the beds? If it's the latter, we use hoops made from recycled 1/2" drip tubing and place each end into those white PVC tubes that you can see in the same photo. Those PVC tubes are anchored to the sides of each of our raised beds with metal clamps. If you're referring to how we made and installed the special fitted cover, that's a DIY project from my book, The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook (if you'd like a signed copy, just send me a note at Susan@SusansintheGarden). As far as the boiling water idea, even though that sounds like a good approach, it isn't because that could harm all of the beneficial insects and microorganisms within your soil and you don't want to do that! If the insects you were dealing with are specific to certain types of vegetable crops, then it's a good idea to rotate the location of where you're growing those crops for 2-3 years. For example, if you're growing cabbage family crops such as broccoli, cabbage, or kale, they're very susceptible to different types of cabbage worms (aphids, too). But most of those worms are unique to those types of crops, so if you plant them in a different spot this coming year and in another spot for 2024 (and maybe even 2025), that should help resolve the problem.
@@SusansInTheGarden I truly appreciate you addressing all the issues I mentioned. I knew about rotating tomatoes but not the cabbage, broccoli and the like. Thanks so much Susan. Much appreciated.
hello susan, nice little video you did here. just wondering what you do with your covers in the winter. i would love to make a hinged garden but worried about all the snow and the heaviness damaging the covers! does the insect covering come off easily for this reasoning? my gardens often under feet of snow in the winter time. thank you!
Hi, Amanda. We do get a lot of snow here in Spokane, too, although it sounds like you live in a snowier climate. We made the hinged lids easy to remove and store in a shed over the winter. But for last winter, we decided to just cover each of them with a sheet of heavy-duty plastic so the snow would (for the most part) slide right off of them. But I occasionally needed to remove the snow manually. I would say that in your situation, you'd probably want to remove the cover and store it elsewhere.
Hello. I believe she has drip irrigation in her garden beds. I’ve used Agfabric for a couple years and also have drip irrigation. I’ve found that rain goes through the fabric rather the pooling on top.
Hi there. Yes, Grace is correct: we have a drip irrigation system on the beds and the water doesn't not pool on the ag fabric. Thank you for ordering my pest book, not sure if you'll be ordering directly from me but my email address is Susan@SusansintheGarden.com.
Hi there. There is good air circulation so I haven't had any problems with molds, etc. And the fabric is super durable so it would take a LOT of effort to tear it!
what do I do about earwigs. earwigs are my nemesis!!! They get into all my greens and brassicas! Row cover don't stop them they get under. Do you set soil traps at all? What is your best experience with stopping earwigs. I saw your slug trick with the copper rings, does the copper also keep the earwigs away? PLEASE HELP ME!!! lol Love your videos Susan, always helpful tips. Thanks for sharing
Hi there. I'm glad you've been enjoying my videos and tips. Thanks for that! Earwigs are really challenging and you are absolutely right that they can get under covers and into tight spots. My best success has been with an oil and soy sauce trap. You take a container with a snap-on lid, drill some small (1/4" diameter) holes in the lid, pour in an inch or so of vegetable oil into the bottom of the container, add a splash of soy sauce (which attracts them) and snap on the lid. The container needs to be sunk into the ground so the snap-on lid is just above the soil surface. The earwigs are attracted to the smell of the soy sauce, crawl through one of the holes in the lid, fall into the oil and drown. I've caught hundreds of them this way. There are other ways to control them, including other simple traps for catching them, in my book, The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook. If you are interested in getting a signed copy, just drop me an email at Susan@SusansintheGarden.com. Good luck!
Hi, Robin. Yes, it goes right through the agricultural insect netting and floating row cover without any problem at all. We also water our beds with a drip-irrigation system but are always happy for extra moisture from Mother Nature!
Hi, Carla. Boy, each of those critters are extremely challenging to deal with, esp. the chipmunks and squirrels. For them, you really need to erect some barriers to keep them away from the types of crops they love. If they primarily are munching on your tomatoes or other succulent types of veggies, put out a dish of water for them (away from your garden) because it's the moisture they're after. For gophers, the best method is a body-gripping type of trap... provided your state allows the use of them (most do, though). I never recommend poisons because there are too many negative ramifications with using them (such as predatory animals like hawks or coyotes) being poisoned by eating the dead animal. In my new book, The Vegetable Garden Problem Solver Handbook, I have a whole chapter devoted to dealing with the most commonly-encountered critters in the garden. There are all sorts of strategies and methods for each of them. The book comes out in Feb. 2023 and here is a link to it on my website so you can see exactly what's in it: www.susansinthegarden.com/books/vegetable-garden-problem-solver-handbook/.
Oh my! Both types of critters can be so damaging. I'm afraid your best bet is to surround your garden area (or specific beds if they're only bothering certain ones) with a wire fence. If you're dealing with rabbits, the fencing only needs to be 2' high + 6" buried in the ground to prevent them from digging under it. If a groundhog/woodchuck is the culprit, I'm afraid you need a taller fence of 5' in height, with the bottom 12" buried in the ground. Electric fencing is another option, including something called "electric netting." I wish I had easier solutions for you! But it's important to determine exactly which type of critter you're dealing with. Do you happen to have a game camera that you could set in the area (or borrow from a friend)? Then you could see which it is. You might also try looking for pawprints. I hope this helps!
This was my first year trying tulle over my broccoli and kale to try to keep out the cabbage moth. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that once the plants grew to the point of pressing against the tulle, the moth was able to land on top and deposit her eggs onto the plant (as I witnessed several times, and later found baby cabbage worms throughout the plants). Sounds like this might not be an issue with the ag fabric, if the weave is tight enough? (The weave on my tulle wasn't particularly tight.) Also, thank you for this excellent video!
Hi there. So glad you enjoyed the video. I've had the same experience with tulle so I was worried that might happen with the ag netting in our broccoli bed since the plants keep growing up and touching it underneath (usually with their heads, which we continually harvest). However, we haven't not had any issues at all with cabbage butterflies or moths, so I'm pretty darned happy! The weave is super tight and small.
@@SusansInTheGarden Thank you! This is great to know. I'm in Canada so unsure if I can buy the ag fabric, but will look into it. I'll also just mention I've been finding the tulle to work perfectly against squash vine borers (though I'll withhold my final "judgement" until the end of the season) and leaf miners -- I guess those insects don't like to lay their eggs on top of the tulle. Yay! :-)
I love your videos and always learn so much. I have a problem I hope you or one of the other viewers can help. I planted a large bed of brussels sprouts, cauliflower and broccoli. I covered the bed with the ag cloth. They look awesome not a bug 'bite' in sight. However, is not one single "fruit" on any of the plants except for a Chinese broccoli plant which produced early in June. Any suggestions or ideas of what happened? Thank you!
Wow, that is odd. To be honest, I don't have luck growing Brussels sprouts or cauliflower here. I think our climate is just too dry. But I do have good luck with growing broccoli. Anyway, each of these crops are generally planted about 2 weeks before the danger of frost has passed (although I believe Brussels sprouts can be planted later) because they prefer cool-ish weather. They benefit from organic nitrogen fertilizer, such as diluted fish emulsion, and they need plenty of room to grow. I don't know if any of this helps but it's a start!
@@SusansInTheGarden Thank you Susan for your response. Your suggestions were great; however, I did try all of that. I have grown brussels sprouts in the past but they fell prey to cabbage worms, so I know it is possible where I live. It is just so odd, that not one single thing except the Chinese broccoli. this time. As you said in your video, they do not need pollinators, so I know that isn't the problem. The plants are between 3 ft. and 4.5 ft. tall with nothing but leaves. Do you think I should contact the local master garden program at the university & see if they might have an idea? I appreciate you taking the time to respond, knowing how busy you are. Thank you!!
@@sandyl.7608 OK, then I would recommend going to your local Master Gardeners and also reading information about this online. Here's one article I found: gardenerspath.com/plants/vegetables/cauliflower-not-forming-heads/. And here's a blog post about it from one of my colleagues: gardenerd.com/blog/ask-gardenerd-big-cauliflower-no-head/. Good luck!
Love the agfabric netting.! Thanks for the start of season refresher!
Susan, you and Bill have a gorgeous garden! The tips, garden structures, and planting knowledge that you impart are always timely and very much appreciated. Thank you so much. I hope you have a lovely week ahead. ~Margie🐝💐🦋
Thank you so much, Margie! You are such a sweetheart. Hope you have a great week, too.
It’s so nice to find a channel that’s within my region. You’re only two hours north of me. I am in the Palouse region.
It's nice to meet you!
Beautiful butterfly at 3:00
Excellent thanks. I always enjoy your videos.
Good stuff! I'm just starting to do this. Mostly was having issues with squirrels. But now the robins are in my beds all day picking away at worms, insects and they also ate all my chard seeds. This worked in the one bed I placed it.
Thank you for sharing 🤩
Great video - thanks.
Thank you for this look into row covers. I have been gardening for years and never had issues that made me need row covers, but this past week I have had an invasion of quail in my garden. Im in the desert SW in zone 8a and dont need much for frost protection with my winter crops, but this year the quail have completely eaten all my bok choy and kale, leaving mostly stems. I'm hoping once I get it covered that it will grow back.🤞 I have always set out bird feeders and put seed on the ground for the quail and birds, but it hasn't been sufficient this year. They love my greens too.
I'm glad it was helpful. We have a lot of California quail in our garden and we love them, but we definitely need to protect young plants and certain types of greens from them!
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you!!
Really helpful. Thanks
I mainly use voile curtain fabric. It'll last 3 to 4 years until it starts to degrade and I have to pull it. I find netting snags on everything and rips easily, the bugs can still get through and the deer try to eat the plants right through it. Fleece is far too delicate and rips easily. I began using up lengths of coloured voiles I had in my fabric "stash" and now I'll get them wherever it's cheapest or free. I don't mind patching bits together to make up the large sizes I need. It also looks quite cute. I use the coloured ones in the hidden part of the garden and will tone it down at the front. Next year I'll be adding hoops and/or frames and plan to create channels in the voile to thread long bits of wood through so that it's easy to lift the voile over an entire bed in one go - also easier in windy weather. Perhaps the year after I'll get some of those lids in place. Busy piecing two new pieces I got from a charity shop (about 6 metres in total) and they only wanted a tiny donation. I also keep an eye on recycling sites and a look out for second hand voiles being sold cheaply.
Hello, Amelia. Thank you so much for sharing your tips. The agricultural insect netting is almost impossible to tear, and believe me, I've tried with some sample pieces of it because I was curious to learn how strong it is. I haven't had any aphids get through the mesh at all or animals trying to eat plants right through it. It could be that the netting available to you is different than the netting that I'm using?? However, I'm very glad you are having good luck with the voile fabric. The only thing I would be curious about is if there are any concerns about the dyes used to color them getting onto the plants.
great video thank you
I've been using agricultural insect netting for several years and I wouldn't be without it! Here in Canada, we can get a stretchy netting that's easy to work with, but I have found that it does tear somewhat easily, especially after a couple of years, even though it is UV stabilized. Your netting looks similar to the UK's micromesh which seems a bit stiffer and much more durable...it's on my list but they have been out of stock of the size I need for a few months now but I'll keep trying!
Very interesting, thanks 😊
Glad you enjoyed it, Rosalie.
Very informative! Thank you!
Really good review of the different row covers. One thing I also like about your videos is that you begin by saying where you are located and which zone. I also like the agricultural insect netting too and another thing it helps with is hail protection. Love the flip top cover for your bed.
Hi, Joyce. I'm trying to be really good about mentioning our hardiness zone! Wow, I didn't think about hail protection but that's good to know. There was a big hailstorm in Spokane Valley yesterday (east of where we live) and the hailstones were the size of golf balls. Eek.
@@SusansInTheGarden I’m glad you were spared the hailstorm. Our region is known as hail alley and we’ve seen some really bad ones. The netting might not stop the big hailstones but even something helps.
This was very helpful! Thank you
Glad it was helpful!
Love yr covers. Here in Qld Australia I only need to hand water my beds every 4 weeks in summer and 6 weeks in winter no irrigation pipe required due to using wood mulch. My fine herbs and soft lettuces love it.
You must not be in the same Qld I am lol I have to water daily! When you say wood mulch, do you mean chip from the mill?
@@Noniinthebush yep. You must create moisture before planting, water again after planting before a thick layer of mulch.
Hi Susan, really enjoyed your video in which you compare row covers. Here in The UK I use a wide range of covers depending on seasons and what pests I want to exclude etc. We have been subscribed to your channel for months and are following you. Have you viewed our Early August Garden Tour ? Best Wishes, Paul & Nadj.
Hello! Thanks so much for subscribing and for the tip about your video. I will check it out!
Love your videos Susan and Thank you. I have the bell so I get notice everytime I release a new video. 😊 Can I ask, do you just remove the AG Netting from the frame when you're done with it for the season or do you remove the entire hinged lid including hoops? I love your hoop house BTW. Best looking one I've seen so far!
Thank you so much. This is our first growing season to use ag fabric but we're planning to remove the 2 hinged lids for the winter months and moving them into an outbuilding. So glad you like our hoop house. If you'd like to see more on it, here's a link to when we built it: www.susansinthegarden.com/?s=hoop+house+project. Thanks again for your kind words.
Good information. Need covers from grasshoppers. What hasn't died from drought the grasshoppers have moved it.
Have a great weekend.
Oh, that's awful. I'm so sorry. Grasshoppers can chew through some types of row covers (mainly floating row cover) so you'll probably want to try the ag insect netting.
Same here with regard to the grasshoppers!
@@SusansInTheGarden that's nice to know they can chew thru row covers. These were the Big green grasshoppers that brought their own silverware to the table. Non stop eaters.
@@donnamullins2089 Ugh!
Great video, Susan, as usual! Your hinged row cover frames look great and are quite similar to the ones I have built. I'm overwhelmed with curiosity about how you retained the bottom of the hoops to the frame! Your method looks much better than what I did...what kind of brackets did you use??? They aren't really visible in the video.
Hi there. I'm so glad you enjoyed the video. If I could post a photo of just the row cover top here, I would. But if you send an email to me at Susan@SusansintheGarden.com, I would be happy to share a couple of photos so you can better see how it went together. It is one of the DIY projects in my book, The Vegetable Garden Problem Solver Handbook.
Have you considered nematodes to address your slug problems?
Here, in the UK, you can buy Nemaslug for around £15.
Hello! I haven't thought of that. We have good luck with the copper rings around the base of plants such as broccoli, cabbage and kale (see this video for clarification: ruclips.net/video/e3KlS9YfWY0/видео.html); we have also used organic slug bait (containing iron phosphate); or beer traps. Do you know which species of nematodes are effective against slugs? When I check U.S. suppliers of beneficial nematodes, none of them mention using them for slugs. I'm intrigued!
@SusansInTheGarden There's lots of videos on RUclips about nematodes. Perhaps Tony's video (ruclips.net/video/Gg1cosZY6k0/видео.htmlsi=szyQvzvCQ4QvwBK0 ) would be a good place to start.
Hello. Do you have a video on how you built your hoop covers? Thank you.
Hi there. It is a DIY project in my book, The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook (which is about dealing with insect pests organically). If you want to purchase the book, here's my affiliate link to it on Amazon: amzn.to/3PB5LDN. Otherwise, you could check it out from your local library branch to see the step-by-step instructions. Cheers.
I am in a microclimate here in spokane valley as well. I totally love your garden. Do you ever do book signings or anything where you can meet your viewers?
Ordinarily I do, but I don't have any coming up in the near future.
Great video Susan, thank you. Do you have any advice for a gentle shade cloth cover for plants getting too hot?
I recommend 30% to 50% shade cloth, depending on how hot it gets. 30% is pretty gentle. I think we're all going to need to invest in some for this summer!
@@SusansInTheGarden thank you, I am also in eastern WA and it’s feeling like it’s getting pretty hot already. I was thinking of some 40%
Susan k have you a video on creating the hoops? I see you’ve used white pipe for it to go in to, how have you got that secured ?
Hello! First of all, those white pipes are not part of the bed cover system. They're actually just 10" tall lengths of white PVC pipe that I have used for another hoop system. But the hinged cover that you see on the bed is one of the do-it-yourself projects in my book, The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook, which is all about insect identification and dealing with them organically in the garden. If you are interested in getting a signed copy from me, just let me know. Or you could probably borrow a copy of the book from a public library, but my book is an invaluable resource primarily for vegetable gardening.
@@SusansInTheGardenhi Susan! Thank you for the reply. I live in Australia 🇦🇺 so I’m not sure if your insects are the same as mine but i guess they’d be very similar. Thanks again Noni x
I used the Ag netting for the first time this year in my first veg garden. My brocs were a good 6 inches tall or more and what I found was that somehow I guess I trapped some critters inside the netting and they decimated the leaves on the brocs and I found that the flying critters, (I don't know what they were exactly yet) were having babies and attaching them to the top of the hoops. I failed completely and got just the opposite result than what I had intended. So maybe I used the cover too late and trapped what was already in there? I secured the cover to the ground with garden staples.
I just recently found your site and so appreciate your videos and your suggestions and recently bought your Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook.
Hi there. First of all, thank you for buying my bug book! Second, there are 2 things to keep in mind when using any type of row cover. 1) Cover your planting as soon as you sow the seeds or plant the seedlings. 2) Don't plant the same types of crops in the same beds year after year. It's possible you had some type of cabbage worm in that bed last year, and if they overwintered in a cocoon, then they would hatch... although you would need both sexes so they could mate and the female could lay eggs. But that's a possibility of what happened to your plants this year, if you did cover the planting right away this spring.
@@SusansInTheGarden Thanks for the speedy reply! You found my problem. I waited way too long to use the cover. Lesson Learned.
@@bjohnson6586 Well, don't beat yourself up over it because we all make mistakes. But we learn from them and that's what makes us better gardeners! I've made every mistake in the book, LOL.
Do you have a video where you share how you put your hoops on the beds. Can you put boiling water on the soil to kill insects that harbor in the soil from last year? Thanks for the Ag fabric link.
Hi, RB! Do you mean the special fitted cover like what's in the cover photo of this video, or how we put regular hoops on the beds? If it's the latter, we use hoops made from recycled 1/2" drip tubing and place each end into those white PVC tubes that you can see in the same photo. Those PVC tubes are anchored to the sides of each of our raised beds with metal clamps. If you're referring to how we made and installed the special fitted cover, that's a DIY project from my book, The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook (if you'd like a signed copy, just send me a note at Susan@SusansintheGarden). As far as the boiling water idea, even though that sounds like a good approach, it isn't because that could harm all of the beneficial insects and microorganisms within your soil and you don't want to do that! If the insects you were dealing with are specific to certain types of vegetable crops, then it's a good idea to rotate the location of where you're growing those crops for 2-3 years. For example, if you're growing cabbage family crops such as broccoli, cabbage, or kale, they're very susceptible to different types of cabbage worms (aphids, too). But most of those worms are unique to those types of crops, so if you plant them in a different spot this coming year and in another spot for 2024 (and maybe even 2025), that should help resolve the problem.
@@SusansInTheGarden I truly appreciate you addressing all the issues I mentioned. I knew about rotating tomatoes but not the cabbage, broccoli and the like. Thanks so much Susan. Much appreciated.
@@rbthegardennannyllc4219 My pleasure. Happy holidays!
hello susan, nice little video you did here. just wondering what you do with your covers in the winter. i would love to make a hinged garden but worried about all the snow and the heaviness damaging the covers! does the insect covering come off easily for this reasoning? my gardens often under feet of snow in the winter time. thank you!
Hi, Amanda. We do get a lot of snow here in Spokane, too, although it sounds like you live in a snowier climate. We made the hinged lids easy to remove and store in a shed over the winter. But for last winter, we decided to just cover each of them with a sheet of heavy-duty plastic so the snow would (for the most part) slide right off of them. But I occasionally needed to remove the snow manually. I would say that in your situation, you'd probably want to remove the cover and store it elsewhere.
How do you water with the covers on? I found with the floating row cover the water just sits on top. BTW, I'll be ordering your Pest Book. ❤️
Hello. I believe she has drip irrigation in her garden beds. I’ve used Agfabric for a couple years and also have drip irrigation. I’ve found that rain goes through the fabric rather the pooling on top.
Hi there. Yes, Grace is correct: we have a drip irrigation system on the beds and the water doesn't not pool on the ag fabric. Thank you for ordering my pest book, not sure if you'll be ordering directly from me but my email address is Susan@SusansintheGarden.com.
When it comes to the agriculture insect netting, do you have any mold issues on plant or fabric, or issues with fabric being torn?
Hi there. There is good air circulation so I haven't had any problems with molds, etc. And the fabric is super durable so it would take a LOT of effort to tear it!
@@SusansInTheGarden thank you!
what do I do about earwigs.
earwigs are my nemesis!!! They get into all my greens and brassicas!
Row cover don't stop them they get under.
Do you set soil traps at all? What is your best experience with stopping earwigs. I saw your slug trick with the copper rings, does the copper also keep the earwigs away?
PLEASE HELP ME!!! lol
Love your videos Susan, always helpful tips.
Thanks for sharing
Hi there. I'm glad you've been enjoying my videos and tips. Thanks for that! Earwigs are really challenging and you are absolutely right that they can get under covers and into tight spots. My best success has been with an oil and soy sauce trap. You take a container with a snap-on lid, drill some small (1/4" diameter) holes in the lid, pour in an inch or so of vegetable oil into the bottom of the container, add a splash of soy sauce (which attracts them) and snap on the lid. The container needs to be sunk into the ground so the snap-on lid is just above the soil surface. The earwigs are attracted to the smell of the soy sauce, crawl through one of the holes in the lid, fall into the oil and drown. I've caught hundreds of them this way. There are other ways to control them, including other simple traps for catching them, in my book, The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook. If you are interested in getting a signed copy, just drop me an email at Susan@SusansintheGarden.com. Good luck!
@@SusansInTheGarden thank you very much!
When it rains, can the water get through any of these row covers? Or do you rely on watering? Thanks!
Hi, Robin. Yes, it goes right through the agricultural insect netting and floating row cover without any problem at all. We also water our beds with a drip-irrigation system but are always happy for extra moisture from Mother Nature!
@@SusansInTheGarden Thank you, Susan! 😊
Ola bom dia
A senhora saber mim enformar quantos mesh e essa tela se e de 40 0u 50 60.ou 80
Hello. I understand your question but wasn't able to find that information for you. I'm so sorry.
Susn, how do you protect from chipmunks, squirrels and gophers?
Hi, Carla. Boy, each of those critters are extremely challenging to deal with, esp. the chipmunks and squirrels. For them, you really need to erect some barriers to keep them away from the types of crops they love. If they primarily are munching on your tomatoes or other succulent types of veggies, put out a dish of water for them (away from your garden) because it's the moisture they're after. For gophers, the best method is a body-gripping type of trap... provided your state allows the use of them (most do, though). I never recommend poisons because there are too many negative ramifications with using them (such as predatory animals like hawks or coyotes) being poisoned by eating the dead animal. In my new book, The Vegetable Garden Problem Solver Handbook, I have a whole chapter devoted to dealing with the most commonly-encountered critters in the garden. There are all sorts of strategies and methods for each of them. The book comes out in Feb. 2023 and here is a link to it on my website so you can see exactly what's in it: www.susansinthegarden.com/books/vegetable-garden-problem-solver-handbook/.
Does the agriculture insect netting keep gnats out?
I don't know because we don't really have gnats in our vegetable garden. Sorry I can't give you a more definitive answer!
My groundhog/woodchuck or rabbit is chewing through the row covers. How do I stop that?
Oh my! Both types of critters can be so damaging. I'm afraid your best bet is to surround your garden area (or specific beds if they're only bothering certain ones) with a wire fence. If you're dealing with rabbits, the fencing only needs to be 2' high + 6" buried in the ground to prevent them from digging under it. If a groundhog/woodchuck is the culprit, I'm afraid you need a taller fence of 5' in height, with the bottom 12" buried in the ground. Electric fencing is another option, including something called "electric netting." I wish I had easier solutions for you! But it's important to determine exactly which type of critter you're dealing with. Do you happen to have a game camera that you could set in the area (or borrow from a friend)? Then you could see which it is. You might also try looking for pawprints. I hope this helps!
This was my first year trying tulle over my broccoli and kale to try to keep out the cabbage moth. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that once the plants grew to the point of pressing against the tulle, the moth was able to land on top and deposit her eggs onto the plant (as I witnessed several times, and later found baby cabbage worms throughout the plants). Sounds like this might not be an issue with the ag fabric, if the weave is tight enough? (The weave on my tulle wasn't particularly tight.) Also, thank you for this excellent video!
Hi there. So glad you enjoyed the video. I've had the same experience with tulle so I was worried that might happen with the ag netting in our broccoli bed since the plants keep growing up and touching it underneath (usually with their heads, which we continually harvest). However, we haven't not had any issues at all with cabbage butterflies or moths, so I'm pretty darned happy! The weave is super tight and small.
@@SusansInTheGarden Thank you! This is great to know. I'm in Canada so unsure if I can buy the ag fabric, but will look into it. I'll also just mention I've been finding the tulle to work perfectly against squash vine borers (though I'll withhold my final "judgement" until the end of the season) and leaf miners -- I guess those insects don't like to lay their eggs on top of the tulle. Yay! :-)
I love your videos and always learn so much. I have a problem I hope you or one of the other viewers can help. I planted a large bed of brussels sprouts, cauliflower and broccoli. I covered the bed with the ag cloth. They look awesome not a bug 'bite' in sight. However, is not one single "fruit" on any of the plants except for a Chinese broccoli plant which produced early in June. Any suggestions or ideas of what happened? Thank you!
Wow, that is odd. To be honest, I don't have luck growing Brussels sprouts or cauliflower here. I think our climate is just too dry. But I do have good luck with growing broccoli. Anyway, each of these crops are generally planted about 2 weeks before the danger of frost has passed (although I believe Brussels sprouts can be planted later) because they prefer cool-ish weather. They benefit from organic nitrogen fertilizer, such as diluted fish emulsion, and they need plenty of room to grow. I don't know if any of this helps but it's a start!
@@SusansInTheGarden Thank you Susan for your response. Your suggestions were great; however, I did try all of that. I have grown brussels sprouts in the past but they fell prey to cabbage worms, so I know it is possible where I live. It is just so odd, that not one single thing except the Chinese broccoli. this time. As you said in your video, they do not need pollinators, so I know that isn't the problem. The plants are between 3 ft. and 4.5 ft. tall with nothing but leaves. Do you think I should contact the local master garden program at the university & see if they might have an idea? I appreciate you taking the time to respond, knowing how busy you are. Thank you!!
@@sandyl.7608 OK, then I would recommend going to your local Master Gardeners and also reading information about this online. Here's one article I found: gardenerspath.com/plants/vegetables/cauliflower-not-forming-heads/. And here's a blog post about it from one of my colleagues: gardenerd.com/blog/ask-gardenerd-big-cauliflower-no-head/. Good luck!
@@SusansInTheGarden Thank you're very kind.