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Fleece or mesh for vegetables

Updated: 16 October 2026

You are covering autumn kale or a tray of spring seedlings. Fleece or mesh for vegetables is a split between two jobs. Fleece buys you a couple of degrees on a frost night. Mesh keeps insects off the leaves. The twelve listings in the [vegetable protection net comparison](/hub/herb-seeds/vegetable-protection-net) are the second job. None of them is horticultural fleece. Written by the Products Compared editorial team on 16 October 2026, from RHS pages, BBC Gardeners’ World, and UK listings captured on 15 October 2026. No cover here was frost-tested. A qualifying purchase through our amazon.co.uk links can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

You are covering autumn kale or a tray of spring seedlings. Fleece or mesh for vegetables is a split between two jobs. Fleece buys you a couple of degrees on a frost night. Mesh keeps insects off the leaves.

Our top picks

DIVCHI DIVCHI two grow tunnels

Best overall

DIVCHI DIVCHI two grow tunnels
8.0/10about £14.99
View offer
KINGLAKE KINGLAKE 2 × 5 m, 35 g/m²

Rank 2

KINGLAKE KINGLAKE 2 × 5 m, 35 g/m²
8.2/10about £14.99
View offer
WOHOHOHO WOHOHOHO 2 × 5 m, 1 mm

Best value

WOHOHOHO WOHOHOHO 2 × 5 m, 1 mm
7.6/10about £8.99
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.What each cover is for
  2. 2.The warmth you can and cannot claim
  3. 3.What that means for these nets
  4. 4.Which one stays on

What each cover is for

Horticultural fleece is a light spun cloth. The RHS says fleece will exclude insects, with the drawback that it tears when you lift it to weed. Woven insect mesh is the tougher cover for that insect job, and it is not the warmth tool. The holes are more open than fleece, so you get shelter from wind, rain, and hail, and little of the warmth a fleece is bought for. Finer mesh can still warm and humidify the air under it. That is a side effect, not a frost rating. Use fleece on a light frost over lettuce or soft seedlings. Use mesh for cabbage whites, carrot fly, or pigeons, when you need a cover you can peel back all season. Fleece left on through June traps heat. Mesh bought as a frost blanket leaves those seedlings exposed on a clear April night.

The warmth you can and cannot claim

The degree figure this page treats as guidance is the RHS line: heavier fleece, about 2°C. That note is about fleece, not about any net in this comparison. Do not follow a blog that puts mesh at −5°C. Enviromesh’s own page still says light frost. That is the maker’s line. The RHS still says the more open holes give little extra warmth, so the two sentences stay apart. Rocket Gardens, writing from Cornwall on 12 October 2026, puts fleece on winter lettuce in colder parts of the UK, and mesh on brassicas where you are not relying on warmth. “Mild” there is their coastal framing. A colder plot still wants fleece for frost and mesh for insects.
DIVCHI DIVCHI two grow tunnels

Testsieger

DIVCHI DIVCHI two grow tunnels
8.0/10about £14.99
View offer

What that means for these nets

None of the twelve listings is fleece. KINGLAKE, OAHAO, and WOHOHOHO are insect sheets at 0.8 mm or, in WOHOHOHO’s title, 1 mm. MAIYADUO, RIFNY, and Straame are 15–20 mm bird nets. DIVCHI is a tunnel with no stated hole. Taydin’s title uses the word fleece, and both reviews describe a mosquito-hat packet about 46 cm tall. That is not a frost cloth for a bed. KINGLAKE’s bullets already prefer the mesh to fleece in warm weather, because fleece holds heat. It is not a promise that the same sheet will hold a brassica through a January frost. Specialist mesh at 55–75 g/m² is still mesh. It does not move the product into the fleece column. Hole size is the vegetable protection net buying guide.

Which one stays on

Through the insect season, mesh stays on and fleece comes off. A June fleece on a closed frame holds heat the crop does not need. Pegging either cloth still means a buried edge and no sharp pins, which is how to fit vegetable netting. In winter, pigeons on kale want a taut mesh or bird net. A light frost, with no bird problem, wants fleece, and you accept the tears at harvest. Use them one after the other: mesh through the white-butterfly season, fleece on forecast frost nights, then mesh again if the pigeons return. Do not stack them for weeks, or you cut the light and hold damp. Rain still reaches the soil through mesh. Fleece is not a waterproof sheet either.

Common questions

Will a vegetable net protect from frost?
Only in a weak sense. The RHS says insect mesh gives little extra warmth because the holes are more open than fleece. Fine mesh can still warm and humidify the crop, and that is not frost protection. The listings in this comparison are mesh, tunnels, or bags.
How much warmth does fleece actually add?
The RHS puts heavier fleece at about 2°C. BBC Gardeners’ World describes 17 g/m² fleece to just below freezing, and 30 g/m² to around −3°C. Those notes are not about KINGLAKE or any other net here. Fleece tears when you lift it to weed, so it is a poor season-long cover next to woven mesh.
Can fleece stop cabbage whites?
It can, while the sheet is intact and the edges are sealed, because the RHS treats fleece as an insect barrier as well as a frost cloth. It tears when you lift it, so a season of weeding opens gaps. Woven mesh is the tougher insect cover and a poor frost blanket. For pigeons and whites together, use mesh with the right hole, and keep fleece for the cold nights.
Which should stay on kale all winter?
If pigeons are the problem, keep a taut mesh or bird net on the kale. If the problem is frost rather than birds, use fleece and expect to replace it once it is ragged. In a colder garden, Rocket Gardens puts fleece on winter salads and mesh on brassicas where you are not relying on warmth.
Will fine mesh overheat a greenhouse bed?
It can. Finer holes raise temperature and humidity. On a bright greenhouse day, lift or vent a 0.8 mm cover if seedlings wilt. The same sheet will not stand in for fleece on a frost night. Heat under the cloth and frost protection are different failures.
Is the Taydin listing fleece?
No. The title uses the word, and the product is two bags about 46 cm tall. Both reviews describe a mosquito-hat packet. That is not horticultural fleece, and it is not one of the insect sheets. None of the twelve listings is a frost fleece. Buy it only if you wanted a small bag, and read those reviews first.

Related pages

Top pick and best value

Vegetable seeds

Vegetable protection net

Netting for brassicas: mesh for pigeons and whites

Insect netting for vegetables: which mesh you need

How to fit vegetable netting: hoops, edges and pegs

Sources

Public UK sources named in the digest. Listings captured on 15 October 2026.

  1. RHS insect-proof mesh (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  2. RHS fleece and crop covers (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  3. RHS carrot fly (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  4. RHS cabbages (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  5. Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, section 1 (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  6. GOV.UK wild birds: prevent damage (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  7. RSPB on netting (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  8. BBC Gardeners’ World fleece (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  9. Crocus Enviromesh ultrafine (retrieved 16 October 2026)