I have used tule, thanks to Tabby's suggestion, to line the bottom of my planters.

but this sounds like a really great way to keep the critters out of my plants.

Thanks so much for sharing it.

I was going to buy bird netting but this is cheap and easy to find.

...yes, it's very economical. I buy it by the bolt and it's usually on sale.

I was out in the garden the other day and wanted to collect a few things for lunch, but didn't have a bucket handy...picked up a piece of this wonderfully versatile stuff and had a nice carrying sling!


A single layer won't work for 30+ pounds of cucumbers however; the day I tried that it starting ripping out halfway to the house!

and I just sold some dirt cheap on a yard sale last year, grrr! This is a great idea

Chelle,

Wow, what a great tip! I would never have thought of using Tulle and it's so economical ... thanks for sharing this great idea!

What a wonderful idea.

That is a great idea! Chelle!
Thanks for sharing with us.

I use the little organza bags (meant for wedding favours) as seed collecting bags.
I tie them over the fading flower.

I had read that. Sounds excellent!

I haven't had a chance to shop around for any yet...

DITTO!! Thanks (one of those wonderful "Why didn't I ever think of that?" ideas!

Chelle this is for you.
I am switching from bird netting to tulle. It is much easier to work with.

...and you can see through it better, IMHO.

You'll have to let us know how it holds up for you, Lynn. I usually only need my plants covered for a couple of weeks, then the pieces move on to the next group of seedlings or bug troubled plants... or they get put away, out of the elements.

Awesome! Awesome idea! You can find tulle inexpensively especially after prom season. I especially like reusing it as plant ties.

I'll let you know how it does Chelle. When I get home I'll go see how much it costs at Walmart.

Glad Y'all like this one! I've been using it for the past three years, or so...


Thanks, Lynn.
I think mine was less than 2 bucks a yard this spring...at the same store. I know that it was just a bit over a dollar the time I bought it before...probably 2 years ago, or maybe three?? I still have much of that batch, although I made the mistake of buying white because it was on sale! It looks awful in the garden!

Cheryl.

Wonderful idea, thanks! I've used it to cover my water garden when the leaves and flowers of my oaks are falling. But I'm going to try it as bird prevention next year. I had a very bad experience with bird netting last spring, and will never ever use it again. Not only is it hard to handle, and tears up the foliage when you try to remove it from a fruit tree, it trapped and killed two (beneficial) black snakes!

Tulle is a much better alternative, and so much cheaper, too!

The nice thing about that is, if the tulle gets snagged on a branch and tears it doesn't produce square holes. It seems to me that the non-flexible, square-shaped holes in bird netting are what the critters can't get out of. Heck, I've had my thumb stuck in it and really had to struggle to get it free.

I, too, felt terrible about those that got caught in bird netting; here, I'd enticed the birds to keep my garden's bugs under control, and then inadvertently caused trouble for them.

Someone who does a lot of experimental hybridizing pointed out a method to greatly reduce insect cross-pollination from nearby plants and neighbors, without spending lots of time hand-pollinating.

First, you have to cover the heirloom or valuable plants that you want to conserve with tulle or fine mesh. Cover them really tightly, like by laying PVC pipe or soil all along every edge. Remember that insects can burrow if they really wnat to reach a bloom.

Let them grow and bloom under the mesh, without any pollination at all, until there are lots of blooms ready for insects.

Wait until nightfall, when all or most pollinators stay in their nests.

Between sunset and sunrise, set yourself up to have all your pollinating done early the next morning, on the bees' first few flights, when they have a minimum of other pollen on them.

At night, remove the mesh from your prized heirlooms. If you have anything in your own garden that might cross-pollinate it, cover that tightly to keep insects away from it tomorrow. Or dead-head every bloom and bud that's about to open.

If it's an option, time this for a time when the nearest neighbors' pollen sources are not in bloom, or have recently been dead-headed or covered with mesh.

I assume that pollinators rise with the sun, but in any event, they will find your recently-uncovered blooms and go into a pollinating frenzy very early in the morning.

Depending on whether you want them to be as fully-pollinated as possible, or as free from cross-pollination as possible, cover them back up early in the morning, or after an hour or two.

Then re-cover the heirloom with the tulle that was originally on it, and seal the edges tight, after letting the bees out. Now you can uncover any other plants that you isolated temporarily.

BTW: as soon as you drape tulle or mesh over some blooms, it will pick up some pollen. If you re-use it on another plant right away, it will transfer pollen to the next plant it touches. Unless insects really have to work hard to reach its stigma, that mesh could be a cross-pollinator. So wash the tulle or mesh between re-uses, or at least let them be rained on and give the pollen time to go stale.