To Cloche or Not To Cloche, that is the Question

Posted on 17. Oct, 2009 by Tracey in How to Grow Veg

As the winter rolls in, the dreaded frost rears its ugly head around mid to end October (South East, UK) and it leaves all your unprotected seedlings gasping, frozen and soggy.

Frost Damaged Potatoes

What Damage Can Frost Do To My Seedlings?

It can turn the foliage brown and black and leaves may shrivel or curl up. The plant may wilt or become distorted.
Freezing and thawing can cause damage to plant cells which may stunt them or stop them growing altogether.
Soil may freeze which restricts water and nutrients to the plants roots, in many cases the plant dies due to lack of moisture.
Frost can kill tender plants if they are not protected.

Top Tip! Remember to cover your xmas potatoes in pots with fleece protection otherwise they’ll end up like mine last year (see photo above).

There are a number of protection options to wrap your seedlings up in a protective jumper over winter so they last until sunny spring.

Types of Frost Protection

Cloches

A cloche is a solid structure made from plastic or glass which covers your vegetable plot or rows or individual vegetables. A floating cloche is a similar structure to a normal cloche but the floating cover is made from fleece, netting or fine mesh. The best thing about a floating cloche is that it doesn’t need to be removed to water your seedlings. It only needs to be removed when sowing, weeding or harvesting.

Advantages of Cloches:

They can protect seedlings from frost, wind and cold temperatures.
They can warm up an individual vegetable, row or area in the spring to allow early sowing.
They can help maintain healthy growth of the seedling or plant.

Disadvantages of Cloches

Solid cloches rely on you to remove them when watering. Although self-watering cloches are available that have holes in the top for rainwater, they divert the rain collected on the sides back towards the plant.
The spring or summer sun can damage seedlings through a glass or plastic cloche.
Pests and diseases could attack under a cloche and you may not be aware until the cloche is removed.

Envirofleece or Horticultural Fleece

Horticultural Fleece

This material is made from bonded polypropylene and is soft to the touch. Standard 17g medium weight fleece protects vegetables down to minus 2 to 3 degrees centigrade or 30g winter weight protects to minus 5 to 6 degrees centigrade.

It usually bought off a roll with a price by metre in garden centres or online shops. It can be cut to size and used to cover any tender plants, vegetables or shrubs by placing the fabric over the plants and/or securing it with plastic or metal ground pegs or string. Fleece can also be used to insulate greenhouses.

Other Crop Protection Covers

Enviromesh

Enviromesh Cover

This is a fine insect proof mesh netting used to cover crops and prevent pests like Carrot Fly, Birds, Cabbage Root Fly, Cabbage White Butterfly, some Aphids, Caterpillars, Rabbits and Wind. It also has some frost protection down to minus 2 degrees centigrade.

Enviromesh is a very lightweight U.V. stabilised polyethylene with 90% light penetration and 75% ventilation to help strengthen and protect your seedlings. The mesh netting lasts for 7-10 years and is reuseable each year. The material is easily cut using scissors and can be bought from a roll in metres or pre-packaged sizes from garden centres and online garden shops. It can be used over a frame or as a floating cloche and secured with metal or plastic pegs or clips.

A thinner insect mesh called Enviromesh Ultra Fine is also available which protects against flea beetle, thrips and leaf miners if they are particular problem in your garden or allotment.

My Recommendation

I built my Geoff Hamilton inspired cloches in May this year from wood, rigid piping and enviromesh stapled over the frame. The cloches will now cover my vegetables all year round (apart from the vegetables that flower) and I will be buying some envirofleece if the winter turns out to be very cold and frosty and loosely put this over the enviromesh cloches. The cloches so far have kept out aphid attacks during the summer months. I am overall very pleased with Enviromesh and would recommend it to all.

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