Cabbages are a staple of most vegetable gardens but need lots of care and attention. Cabbages are a member of the brassica family and are therefore plagued by a variety of pests. They are well worth growing though as they are very tasty when grown yourself, nothing at all like the shop-bought cabbages and they also look gorgeous on the plot.
Not only do birds love them, they are also plagued by slugs, caterpillars and the dreaded cabbage root fly. The cabbage root fly lays its eggs on the soil at the base of your cabbages; when the eggs hatch, the maggots tunnel down to munch on the roots, effectively destroying your cabbage. The hearts will not form properly and the leaves will wilt and often turn a blue colour.
To protect your cabbages from the root fly, you can install some cabbage collars at the base of your cabbage. You can buy these in most garden centres but they’re fairly pricey and often flimsy so I decided to make my own. They were very easy to make and you can use materials you have lying around the house.
I used a doormat to make the collars, old carpet or carpet underlay is also ideal, anything that won’t warp when wet.
To make the collars, you will need: one doormat or some old carpet, an old CD, a marker or pen and a scissors.
Step 1: Using a CD as a template, draw circles for your collars on the mat
Step 2: Cut the circles out using a scissors
Step 3: Cut a straight line halfway through the circle and then cut either side so it forms a Y shape
Step 4: Place the collars around your cabbages
Water the collars a bit to flatten them to the ground, and there you have it, quick, cheap and easy homemade cabbage collars.
Well that’s easy enough! Thanks for sharing:)
This is AWESOME! I wish I’d known this back in March when I planted my purple cabbage. You’ll see my saga of dealing with garden pests in my next episode of “Late Bloomer.” This easy trick could have saved me a lot of trouble. Thanks!
It’s such a simple little trick and really makes a difference. 🙂
Thanks for share such a great tip! I bookmarked it.
This is awesome! I have never come across a gardening book that’s this informative. Thanks.
Thanks 🙂 Happy to share.
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would landscape fabric work?
Only read this today. Pity as I bought those collars in the local garden centre on Saturday. Live and Learn. Yours look like they’ll last a lot more.
Carpet Underlay or carpet itself works very well too.
Brilliant I’m an amateur. Great site and great too for collars.
Brilliant blog, very clear and succinct. Keep up the good work.