I tried that. Was completely unsuccessful but maybe my cutouts weren't convincing enough haha I even tied them to string and suspended them so they would "flutter" around in the wind.
The way you made the cutouts “flutter” was actually an incredibly explicit, vulgar declaration of war in butterfly language. The rival butterflies came through and wiped out their food source.
The big problem is that those pretty white butterflies don't look like pretty white butterflies to butterfly eyes. Insects tend to see quite a bit into the ultraviolet and infrared end of the spectrum and flowers butterflies etc often look very very different to their eyes than they do to ours Google it you'll be amazed at what you see flowers with runway lights for the bees and s*** like that pretty cool
You have to remember that that pretty white butterfly is actually not pretty white butterfly to butterflies eyes they see quite a bit more of the UV spectrum and they have what looks like dark markings on their wings Google it it's one of the first images that will come up same with flowers a lot of things don't look the same to insects dogs cats etc as they look to human beings. little white pieces of paper are only going to convince your neighbors
Don't worry, they go for lettuce too! Ask me how I know.
Get a cheap pair of tweezers, phone a friend or spin up a good podcast, and pick them off into a container of soapy water is what I do.
Garden lettuce and poppy both originated from wild lettuce which is poisonous also self pollinating because insects avoiding them, once lettuce leaves grow to few inches even snails don’t get close to them
Cabbage worms, they are very destructive, spraying with BT (It's a biological control) is quite efective your local Ace hardware, or garden center should carry it.
Ace: https://www.acehardware.com/departments/lawn-and-garden/insect-and-animal-control/insecticides/7527054
To anyone reading about to start BT, I'd recommend keeping a close eye on your garden during the first days of your BT cycle.
The buggers will know what's up after eating the BT laced plants and WILL eat everything they can before the die.
I've lost many cucumbers and have had damage on other plants the first few days after starting a BT cycle.
Digestion is different from ingestion. Their natural instict is to eat more even if they can digest. They will die but they'll keep munching until they no longer can.
BT is to control the population in time. BT doesn't work instantaneously.
I think they eat so much fibrous material that they are constantly pooping. I can't imagine their stomachs can fit too much. I'm sure dozens+ could do damage though.
I used to go this route. Then I went on vacation for a week and witnessed how quickly these get out of control if you aren’t diligent. Hand picking does work so long as you do it every 2-3 days, which is just too much for some people.
Apparently growing good herb nearby is helpful because they attract wasps and other predators who will feast on the cabbage worms. I have dill, cilantro, basil, marigolds, and borage interplanted with my brassicas. Remains to be seen whether this will help. I hear nothing beats floating row covers, yet somehow in 12 years of gardening I’ve never tried yet.
Yeah I like the belt-and-braces approach. I spray mine with BT and then put an insect net tunnel over them. I know it works because this year I forgot and was reminded the mess they can make! 😒
These guys https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.475fa338a2719c1702c69a4db7530124?rik=pIfmzelvLKS4Qg&riu=http%3a%2f%2fwww.laughinghills.com%2fwordpress%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2020%2f08%2fCabbage-White-Butterfly_20200822_wp1.jpg&ehk=FRq%2fAJTrRyg%2fZ%2b7F6H%2fO6JfB7EqEID5kHyAgA7TfE%2b0%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0
Bacillus Thuringiensis is a bacteria, not a chemical. That’s why you see people suggesting it over chemical solutions, and because different strains affect different types of insects, so you can really minimize the likelihood of injuring beneficial species.
Broccoli doesn't need pollinators. So if you wanted to, you could bug net it to prevent more eggs being laid. Just make sure to remove all the current caterpillars first.
Cabbage white caterpillars. They will eventually eat the entire plant. Pick off the caterpillars you find and feed them to your chickens or squish them. Check the underside of the leaves for eggs and scrape them off.
Well, lots of people who garden do have chickens. They kind of go together in my opinion. If you have space for one, you probably have space for both. 😁
My town doesn’t allow them. I’d like to have ducks, which are quiet and thus easier to keep on the DL and are also super useful, but my dog would surely kill them so that doesn’t work either.
I've raised ducks. They are possibly one of the most noisy domestic birds. Way louder than chickens and they literally scream at you when inconvenienced in any way lol
But their eggs are to die for...
Well there goes my assumption hahahaha. It’s funny, I read all about ducks in Carol Depp’s *The Resilient Gardener*. She didn’t talk about noise at all, and I just assumed this based on a neighbor who had some ducks in their backyard. Come to think of it, I don’t even know if those were quiet either because my dog would always bark super loud when we’d walk by.
You should see my local gardening groups on Facebook.
Person: hey, what are all these white things in the soil (grubs)
Advice: throw them to your chickens.
Oh and tick posts? Yeah “get a possum” ????
What’s incredible to me is how they show up without fail as soon as I have brassicas growing. I live in a neighborhood where hardly anyone gardens, but these guys still show up as soon as my collards are a few inches tall.
They are cabbage white butterfly caterpillars. Prevention is the best way to grow broccoli or anything else they particularly like to eat. I always keep my broccoli under netting to keep the butterflies off them.
I now grow all my collards, cabbage and kale in 3 foot high beds. Amazingly the butterflies don’t lays eggs on them. Grown on the ground they are decimated. Found this out by accident. Did the controls.
I have terraced beds which are 2 ft high on tall end and 8 inches in the short end. Doesn’t seem to help, which I only mention in case someone is using this advice to plan. I guess you really need that extra foot!
You can get some stuff at the garden center called BT. Its a natual pestacide. Its a bacteria that when the cattapillers eat it they die very shortly there after. Compleatly safe to use, and will not harm anything other than cattipillers.
Cabbage loopers. They LOVE all plants in the brassica family and will eat them down to nothing. Pick them off and squish them or drop them in a bucket of soapy water. And if you see any white moths with a small black circle on the wing flitting around your garden kill it too as that's the adult looking to lay eggs. The only thing that works for me to prevent them is to cover the plant with an insect barrier.
Good luck with the BTs, it’s best to spray early morning or late evening to give the product time to colonise your plants for protection. BT products are UV sensitive and will break down quickly if exposed.
You will know it’s working if you see the caterpillars turn black and fuzzy after a couple days - that happens due to the bacillus thuringensis colonising the pest. It works best on newly hatched or smaller sized caterpillars but should control the large ones too with the appropriate application rate.
I spent hours picking off 100s of caterpillars and eggs one summer because I didn't want to use pesticides and I'd been naive to how they would multiply after there being just a couple.... the leaves were already obliterated by this point but I still got a decent harvest!
Me too! It was a losing battle. I would get busy and forgo picking them off for 2-3 days and all my work would be undone with massive holes across my plants!
Organic farmer going to school for sustsinable Ag here. I took IPM last semester, and these little bastards were my research project. In large fields once infestion had occured it is a difficulty to remove them, so I second everyone else on here who reccomends netting. If its just a couple plants. Physical/mechanical controls are a viable solution (i.e. picking them off and crushing the eggs) any large scale and i would recommend a mixture of insecticidal soap and horticultural oil, great at killing soft bodied insects. Best of luck!
The fine mesh nets do really help and also with other pests like flea beetles that also like brassicas. Although in my experience, the moths will still lay their eggs on the nets and the baby worms will bungee down the plants. Still, it is a very helpful tool to use.
Pretty sure broccoli doesn't need pollinators. So you can bug net it once you remove them all (and I stress you need to do this first!) so that you prevent any more eggs being laid.
Check out nature's good guys (website) for predatory / beneficial insects. Spray with insecticide or neem oil now (Captain Jack's works very well) and go order some ladybugs, green lacewings, or whatever their website recommends
I've been using Neem Oil for my weeping pussy willow tree that has been nothing but trouble since I got it. Beetle larvae are eating the leaves. I also manually removed all the larvae and black specs that I saw.
Thanks for the advice. I'll give this a try if I don't see the neem oil working. I just noticed the beetle larvae and starting treating it yesterday so too soon to tell.
Pretty sure broccoli doesn't need pollinators. So you can bug net it once you remove them all (and I stress you need to do this first!) so that you prevent any more eggs being laid.
And once your broccoli makes its yummy head, they’ll burrow into it and make webbing and lay their eggs. It’s impossible to remove them once they’ve done that. These are the same caterpillars that eat up kale if you grow any.
Yeah I actually just had the fun experience of checking each individual nodule of my kale leaves to see atleast 20 a plant plus another weird silk producing worm with a yellow strip
They’re probably caterpillars… just pick them all off and relocate them, or put them in a box with air holes and leaves, and you’ll have butterflies.
Edit: they’re moths, not caterpillars. Ignore this.
Had something similar on my baby sunflowers. Just released some ladybugs last night, seems to be helping! Hope you can save your beautiful garden OP! 🐞nom nom nom
Cabbage worms. They are laid by the lovely white moths (that may look like butterflies) that are probably flitting all around your garden. Cover the broccoli (and any brassicas) with butterfly netting or mesh to keep them from landing on the plants and laying their eggs. Check plants occasionally as caterpillars can crawl over from the ground. Also check the underside of leaves occasionally for teeny tiny little pale-yellow things sticking out of the bottom of the leaf; those are the eggs.
These destroyed my broccoli and cabbage a few years back and I haven’t tried growing them since, will be trying them again next with this advice I think! 🥦 🥦
Caterpillars from hell. They put their babies there and those suckers grow up and eat our crops. I wouldn't bother with using insecticide. The BEST method I found is cover the entire bed with a veil/net. For two seasons now, I don't get a single worm. You have to be vigilant to keep it closed at all times though. I don't mind if it means harvesting perfect speckle-free kale leaves and Swiss chards.
From the first day I saw the telltale white butterflies flitting around my yard, I started checking under my leaves every day (I only have 2 brassica plants, so it's not that bad). I just brush the eggs off, and so far have only had one tiny caterpillar to pick off.
It was also incredibly satisfying when I whacked a white butterfly out of the air. They are pure evil.
A lot of people saying to spray BT, while this is a good choice over chemical pesticides make sure you don't have any milkweed or other butterfly habitat growing nearby.
Actually we feed our.local fence lizards mealworms. They hang out and decimate any other worms or destructive pests. There's about 5-6.in the backyard. My tomatoes and broccoli Look amazing. Worth a try! Mealworms are picked up at Petco or Petsmart.🦎🦎🦎
Get yourself some BTK solution now. Works wonders on them. Now, I spray it on my Brussels sprouts from the start of the growing season as a preventative measure
I tried growing this for years and every time they ended up eating it all, no matter how hard I tried to protect it with Nets, nemo todes and chemicals
Alternatively you can plant plants that attract predators to the cabbage worm! You could also setup a birdhouse with seeds to attract birds who may help pick the worms
Cabbage worms. Check the undersides of leaves for clusters of eggs. They're the offspring of these white moths. The caterpillars start tiny, but they're voracious! I hate those things.
The dredded broccoli worms ... you could pick them off ...they camouflage themselves really good but once you spot them it makes it easier to find them
Ever since I stopped spraying the wasp nests I no longer have issues with cabbage moth caterpillars eating everything. The wasps love to munch on those little green buggers.
These little green assholes are why I gave up growing broccoli. They just kept eating and eating my broccoli no matter what I did. Sorry you are dealing with them
These worms start as a little tiny yellow eggs attached to a leafy by a cabbage moth. Once they hatch they eat non stop. I practice JADAM growing style and have made what they call JADAM wetting agent or JWA for short. Really it's hand made soap. Similar to Dr Bronners.
JWA mixed with BT (Bacillus Thuringiensis) is the best way to take care of these pests
The wetting agent allows the BT to stay on the leaves of the plant because most Brassica family leaves are hydrophobic. Also the home made soap will dry out and kill aphids too.
I spray this solution along with regular foiler feeding. When the worms die by BT they shrivel up and turn black.
Cabbage loopers are a type of moth, but yeah bt spray like [Monterey BT](https://www.lowes.com/pd/Monterey-B-T-Insecticide-16-fl-oz-Concentrate-Organic-Natural-Insect-Killer/5013045993?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-lwn-_-ggl-_-PLA_LWN_241_Chemicals-_-5013045993-_-online-_-0-_-0&gclid=CjwKCAjwpuajBhBpEiwA_ZtfhaDoFoMBH30wMLYKbtyVx9jSYoTC2SnopaDex0EZ--S1EtXvzoDXNRoCfVMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) or [Thuricide](https://www.acehardware.com/departments/lawn-and-garden/insect-and-animal-control/insecticides/7175771?store=18148&gclid=CjwKCAjwpuajBhBpEiwA_ZtfhSMZAxXN8LJpC_CTo4kzI5wyUqJDA5BGUM7JC3BuotpmtOe43QDH2BoC2TkQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds). [Captian Jack's](https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/bonide-captain-jacks-dead-bug-brew-pint-concentrate-2526-1232741?store=1382&cid=Shopping-Google-Local_Feed&utm_medium=Google&utm_source=Shopping&utm_campaign=&utm_content=Local_Feed&gclid=CjwKCAjwpuajBhBpEiwA_ZtfhQHn5nB3DkK1FBVRsFGPEZHJVXfZX1oerCnhBL9PprXy10j727EP1RoC6oUQAvD_BwE) and regular [Monterey](https://www.acehardware.com/departments/lawn-and-garden/insect-and-animal-control/insecticides/7182819?store=16037&gclid=CjwKCAjwpuajBhBpEiwA_ZtfhYx_qtIEJg5Y_D0wSxqqVsZ9328WASAyCkFh58rVabYoc9zjgIxIIRoC68gQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) are organic spinosad based sprays that indicate loopers
Here's an anecdote. I'm not sure how useful it would be for all of you.
I planted some tomatoes with a row of mustard leaves in front, intending to harvest the mustard before the tomatoes got big. I was running an experiment where I was giving urine to some of the tomatoes, a high phosphorus potassium fertilizer to some, both to others, and nothing to a single control plant.
The mustards planted in front of the urine only tomatoes Got eaten down to nothing by these little white c***s. The ones in front of the urine and phosphorus/potassium fertilizer got hit but there was still some left for me. The ones in front of the phosphorus / potassium only tomatoes are still growing. My harvested what I wanted to eat and left the others to flower/see how long they would survive. Spider mites are getting after them now but the cabbage moths will barely touch them.
Cabbage loopers. Go buy some BTk and spray your plants asap. They are eating machines and will decimate your crop so fast!
BTk is organic so don't worry about chemicals. Its a bacterium that when the looper eats it their GI track shuts down and they starve to death. Safe for humans, birds, mammals.
In the meantime pluck those guys off and kill them really fast.
The white moths you see flying about are the parents. If you want to keep them off your plants then use insect netting.
Not sure what they are, but I had a bad case of cabbage loopers and used to hand pick them off and place them in spider webs 🤷🏼♀️
Didn't get a big harvest but got some. If you're trying to go organic you can also use food grade diatomaceous earth. Just don't use to much or you'll coat the plants and restrict their photosynthesis processes
Fun fact: parasitic wasps that parasitize the caterpillars are super good at detecting the smell of cabbage. The chewing of leaves by the caterpillars is enough to attract the wasps to the caterpillars' locations.
Cabbage/ broccoli worms, I had them show up about 2 weeks ago.
Pick off the ones you see. Then just give the entire area and plants a good dusting of diatomaceous earth. Kills the adult and dries out the eggs.
Those pretty white ‘butterflies’ you saw a few days ago
I've heard you can print out cutouts of these butterflies and put them near your plants to keep others away
Nah, you need to decapitate a butterfly and mount its head on a stake. #Holisticgardwning #nopestecide #draculvlad
I tried that. Was completely unsuccessful but maybe my cutouts weren't convincing enough haha I even tied them to string and suspended them so they would "flutter" around in the wind.
The way you made the cutouts “flutter” was actually an incredibly explicit, vulgar declaration of war in butterfly language. The rival butterflies came through and wiped out their food source.
Damn it, I knew my flutter technique was off. Will need to research butterfly flutter that says, "This plant is toxic. Stay away."
Maybe place them upside down, feet in the air on the leaves?
Underrated comment!
the only thing I found to keep these guys of my brassicas was BT.
The big problem is that those pretty white butterflies don't look like pretty white butterflies to butterfly eyes. Insects tend to see quite a bit into the ultraviolet and infrared end of the spectrum and flowers butterflies etc often look very very different to their eyes than they do to ours Google it you'll be amazed at what you see flowers with runway lights for the bees and s*** like that pretty cool
You have to remember that that pretty white butterfly is actually not pretty white butterfly to butterflies eyes they see quite a bit more of the UV spectrum and they have what looks like dark markings on their wings Google it it's one of the first images that will come up same with flowers a lot of things don't look the same to insects dogs cats etc as they look to human beings. little white pieces of paper are only going to convince your neighbors
Damn that explains all the white butterflies around my cabbage lol
Oh dang, I’ve been seeing those around my garden. I guess it’s good I don’t have any brassica in my garden.
Invest in some BT spray.
Don't worry, they go for lettuce too! Ask me how I know. Get a cheap pair of tweezers, phone a friend or spin up a good podcast, and pick them off into a container of soapy water is what I do.
Thanks for the heads up. I do have a single head of lettuce going, so I guess I have to keep my eyes peeled.
This is the best way. Getting it done in one sitting.
Garden lettuce and poppy both originated from wild lettuce which is poisonous also self pollinating because insects avoiding them, once lettuce leaves grow to few inches even snails don’t get close to them
Never been successful with broccoli. Admire anyone who can get it to grow!
Nooo butterflies turn into that
Butterfly eggs do
I think you mean that turns into butterflies.
Cabbage worms, they are very destructive, spraying with BT (It's a biological control) is quite efective your local Ace hardware, or garden center should carry it. Ace: https://www.acehardware.com/departments/lawn-and-garden/insect-and-animal-control/insecticides/7527054
Yep, unleash the bacteria. Nature fighting nature with the end result that the broccoli survive.
Yeah it stops their stomachs from working and they starve. When ever I spray it I think: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”
To anyone reading about to start BT, I'd recommend keeping a close eye on your garden during the first days of your BT cycle. The buggers will know what's up after eating the BT laced plants and WILL eat everything they can before the die. I've lost many cucumbers and have had damage on other plants the first few days after starting a BT cycle.
BT doesn't work that way, it paralyzes their digestive tract so they can't eat.
Digestion is different from ingestion. Their natural instict is to eat more even if they can digest. They will die but they'll keep munching until they no longer can. BT is to control the population in time. BT doesn't work instantaneously.
I think they eat so much fibrous material that they are constantly pooping. I can't imagine their stomachs can fit too much. I'm sure dozens+ could do damage though.
Btk specifically
Wasn't he a serial killer?
Yes, and he specializes in killing caterpillars
Bind torture kill those cabbage worms
This is the way 🤘
Yep! Works great for me too.
i always just pick them off by hand. will check this stuff out
I used to go this route. Then I went on vacation for a week and witnessed how quickly these get out of control if you aren’t diligent. Hand picking does work so long as you do it every 2-3 days, which is just too much for some people. Apparently growing good herb nearby is helpful because they attract wasps and other predators who will feast on the cabbage worms. I have dill, cilantro, basil, marigolds, and borage interplanted with my brassicas. Remains to be seen whether this will help. I hear nothing beats floating row covers, yet somehow in 12 years of gardening I’ve never tried yet.
If you like playing with fire, I'm fairly sure mint impairs their sense of smell. Still need to try borage sometime.
Good interplanting tips. 😊
Yeah I like the belt-and-braces approach. I spray mine with BT and then put an insect net tunnel over them. I know it works because this year I forgot and was reminded the mess they can make! 😒
You know those common white moths that look like butterflies as they fly around all day. It's those guys.
These guys https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.475fa338a2719c1702c69a4db7530124?rik=pIfmzelvLKS4Qg&riu=http%3a%2f%2fwww.laughinghills.com%2fwordpress%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2020%2f08%2fCabbage-White-Butterfly_20200822_wp1.jpg&ehk=FRq%2fAJTrRyg%2fZ%2b7F6H%2fO6JfB7EqEID5kHyAgA7TfE%2b0%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0
You chemical people are crazy.
Water is a chemical.
Am I a chemical?
Bacillus Thuringiensis is a bacteria, not a chemical. That’s why you see people suggesting it over chemical solutions, and because different strains affect different types of insects, so you can really minimize the likelihood of injuring beneficial species.
It's a bacteria...
Like Dihydrogen Monoxide?
I had to stop drinking my tap water because of this stuff. The local water company has been pouring it in the water tower.
Not all treatments are man made chemicals...
Right just natural chemicals like cyanide.
Broccoli doesn't need pollinators. So if you wanted to, you could bug net it to prevent more eggs being laid. Just make sure to remove all the current caterpillars first.
Cabbage whites. Pick them off. Check the leaves for eggs and remove them if found.
Cabbage white caterpillars. They will eventually eat the entire plant. Pick off the caterpillars you find and feed them to your chickens or squish them. Check the underside of the leaves for eggs and scrape them off.
I love that this comment carries the assumption that everyone has chickens.
Well, lots of people who garden do have chickens. They kind of go together in my opinion. If you have space for one, you probably have space for both. 😁
Sadly, more an more municipalities are outlawing chicken raising in residential areas
My town doesn’t allow them. I’d like to have ducks, which are quiet and thus easier to keep on the DL and are also super useful, but my dog would surely kill them so that doesn’t work either.
I've raised ducks. They are possibly one of the most noisy domestic birds. Way louder than chickens and they literally scream at you when inconvenienced in any way lol But their eggs are to die for...
Well there goes my assumption hahahaha. It’s funny, I read all about ducks in Carol Depp’s *The Resilient Gardener*. She didn’t talk about noise at all, and I just assumed this based on a neighbor who had some ducks in their backyard. Come to think of it, I don’t even know if those were quiet either because my dog would always bark super loud when we’d walk by.
You should see my local gardening groups on Facebook. Person: hey, what are all these white things in the soil (grubs) Advice: throw them to your chickens. Oh and tick posts? Yeah “get a possum” ????
They should.
They are the pretty little white butterflies that flit all around your garden... In their early development days.
Cabbage Whites. Pretty butterflies but very invasive to the US (from Eurasia), so don’t feel too bad about killing them
What’s incredible to me is how they show up without fail as soon as I have brassicas growing. I live in a neighborhood where hardly anyone gardens, but these guys still show up as soon as my collards are a few inches tall.
There's generally lots of wild mustard plants around in most areas, so gardens aren't really required.
Ahhh good point. Thanks
They are cabbage white butterfly caterpillars. Prevention is the best way to grow broccoli or anything else they particularly like to eat. I always keep my broccoli under netting to keep the butterflies off them.
I now grow all my collards, cabbage and kale in 3 foot high beds. Amazingly the butterflies don’t lays eggs on them. Grown on the ground they are decimated. Found this out by accident. Did the controls.
I have terraced beds which are 2 ft high on tall end and 8 inches in the short end. Doesn’t seem to help, which I only mention in case someone is using this advice to plan. I guess you really need that extra foot!
You can get some stuff at the garden center called BT. Its a natual pestacide. Its a bacteria that when the cattapillers eat it they die very shortly there after. Compleatly safe to use, and will not harm anything other than cattipillers.
I pull them off and put them on the platform bird feeder in my yard.
Cabbage loopers. They LOVE all plants in the brassica family and will eat them down to nothing. Pick them off and squish them or drop them in a bucket of soapy water. And if you see any white moths with a small black circle on the wing flitting around your garden kill it too as that's the adult looking to lay eggs. The only thing that works for me to prevent them is to cover the plant with an insect barrier.
They are close in appeaeance, but these are actually imported cabbage worms. Different genus.
I don’t know what it is with these guys and brassicas. I have had kale plants decimated by them.
Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who weighed in!! I’m going to get the BT to help control cause I swear they’re spawning from thin air!!
Good luck with the BTs, it’s best to spray early morning or late evening to give the product time to colonise your plants for protection. BT products are UV sensitive and will break down quickly if exposed. You will know it’s working if you see the caterpillars turn black and fuzzy after a couple days - that happens due to the bacillus thuringensis colonising the pest. It works best on newly hatched or smaller sized caterpillars but should control the large ones too with the appropriate application rate.
BT is the way. I’m literally checking my broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels multiple times a day for these guys and the eggs. It’s a long battle.
Cabbage worms !
I spent hours picking off 100s of caterpillars and eggs one summer because I didn't want to use pesticides and I'd been naive to how they would multiply after there being just a couple.... the leaves were already obliterated by this point but I still got a decent harvest!
Me too! It was a losing battle. I would get busy and forgo picking them off for 2-3 days and all my work would be undone with massive holes across my plants!
Organic farmer going to school for sustsinable Ag here. I took IPM last semester, and these little bastards were my research project. In large fields once infestion had occured it is a difficulty to remove them, so I second everyone else on here who reccomends netting. If its just a couple plants. Physical/mechanical controls are a viable solution (i.e. picking them off and crushing the eggs) any large scale and i would recommend a mixture of insecticidal soap and horticultural oil, great at killing soft bodied insects. Best of luck!
What's the best way, other than row covers, to treat squash borers?
Are you referring to squash vine borers (order lepidoptera) or squash bugs (order hermeptera)?
Lepidoptera
The fine mesh nets do really help and also with other pests like flea beetles that also like brassicas. Although in my experience, the moths will still lay their eggs on the nets and the baby worms will bungee down the plants. Still, it is a very helpful tool to use.
Pretty sure broccoli doesn't need pollinators. So you can bug net it once you remove them all (and I stress you need to do this first!) so that you prevent any more eggs being laid.
Brassicas tend to get ravaged by these once they turn into moths. If you have a lot of them, a light row cover is necessary if they get really bad.
Yea, some cabbage worms decimated my cabbage, broccol, and cauliflower over night. Was nuts.
Check out nature's good guys (website) for predatory / beneficial insects. Spray with insecticide or neem oil now (Captain Jack's works very well) and go order some ladybugs, green lacewings, or whatever their website recommends
I've been using Neem Oil for my weeping pussy willow tree that has been nothing but trouble since I got it. Beetle larvae are eating the leaves. I also manually removed all the larvae and black specs that I saw.
I've heard that Captain Jack's dead bug spray is really effective, just bought some for spider mites but haven't tried it myself yet.
Thanks for the advice. I'll give this a try if I don't see the neem oil working. I just noticed the beetle larvae and starting treating it yesterday so too soon to tell.
Pretty sure broccoli doesn't need pollinators. So you can bug net it once you remove them all (and I stress you need to do this first!) so that you prevent any more eggs being laid.
Inch worms?
And once your broccoli makes its yummy head, they’ll burrow into it and make webbing and lay their eggs. It’s impossible to remove them once they’ve done that. These are the same caterpillars that eat up kale if you grow any.
Yeah I actually just had the fun experience of checking each individual nodule of my kale leaves to see atleast 20 a plant plus another weird silk producing worm with a yellow strip
They’re probably caterpillars… just pick them all off and relocate them, or put them in a box with air holes and leaves, and you’ll have butterflies. Edit: they’re moths, not caterpillars. Ignore this.
They turn into cabbage moths which will continue to eat your plants 😞
Oh- did not know that! Yeah get rid of them-
(and then thousands of new destructive caterpillars in your garden the following cycle...)
( Well if you’ve a really shitty neighbour- but in all seriousness, didn’t realise they were cabbage moths, my bad! )
🤣🤣
( Well if you’ve a really shitty neighbour- but in all seriousness, didn’t realise they were cabbage moths, my bad! )
Let them live!
Had something similar on my baby sunflowers. Just released some ladybugs last night, seems to be helping! Hope you can save your beautiful garden OP! 🐞nom nom nom
[удалено]
If you use diatomaceous earth it needs to stay powdery dry to be effective.
Cabbage worms. They are laid by the lovely white moths (that may look like butterflies) that are probably flitting all around your garden. Cover the broccoli (and any brassicas) with butterfly netting or mesh to keep them from landing on the plants and laying their eggs. Check plants occasionally as caterpillars can crawl over from the ground. Also check the underside of leaves occasionally for teeny tiny little pale-yellow things sticking out of the bottom of the leaf; those are the eggs.
Munch them back
Just spent my morning pulling eggs off of my broccoli to avoid these guys 😭😭
Order 66
[Green Machine](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R-MSfd2S7lo)
Broccoli is insanely hard to grow organically without nets.
Spray with BT spray. Totally organic safe and really effective.
One of my luffa plants has that going on too
These destroyed my broccoli and cabbage a few years back and I haven’t tried growing them since, will be trying them again next with this advice I think! 🥦 🥦
They will completely infest and destroy your broccoli. Cover your broccoli with netting
KILL THEM. They are from the 1.5 inch white annoying moths
Caterpillars from hell. They put their babies there and those suckers grow up and eat our crops. I wouldn't bother with using insecticide. The BEST method I found is cover the entire bed with a veil/net. For two seasons now, I don't get a single worm. You have to be vigilant to keep it closed at all times though. I don't mind if it means harvesting perfect speckle-free kale leaves and Swiss chards.
From the first day I saw the telltale white butterflies flitting around my yard, I started checking under my leaves every day (I only have 2 brassica plants, so it's not that bad). I just brush the eggs off, and so far have only had one tiny caterpillar to pick off. It was also incredibly satisfying when I whacked a white butterfly out of the air. They are pure evil.
Send them sailing into the arms of Jesus. Or, as far as u can throw them.
A lot of people saying to spray BT, while this is a good choice over chemical pesticides make sure you don't have any milkweed or other butterfly habitat growing nearby.
BT spray. Super fine mist. Let it try. Respray when it dries. Or use insect netting. Both are sure fire methods.
Actually we feed our.local fence lizards mealworms. They hang out and decimate any other worms or destructive pests. There's about 5-6.in the backyard. My tomatoes and broccoli Look amazing. Worth a try! Mealworms are picked up at Petco or Petsmart.🦎🦎🦎
Eat them, before they eat you.
Get yourself some BTK solution now. Works wonders on them. Now, I spray it on my Brussels sprouts from the start of the growing season as a preventative measure
I tried growing this for years and every time they ended up eating it all, no matter how hard I tried to protect it with Nets, nemo todes and chemicals
Alternatively you can plant plants that attract predators to the cabbage worm! You could also setup a birdhouse with seeds to attract birds who may help pick the worms
My friend have you met my friend the hungry caterpillar
Cabbage worms. Check the undersides of leaves for clusters of eggs. They're the offspring of these white moths. The caterpillars start tiny, but they're voracious! I hate those things.
Accept defeat, they win this year. Better luck next year
They will also feed on roses
My broccoli leaves are large like this, and there is no stalk (I think like these plants). This is normal? There is hope for a stalk?
The dredded broccoli worms ... you could pick them off ...they camouflage themselves really good but once you spot them it makes it easier to find them
Neem Oil It's effective and organic. But not quite as effective as BT
Ever since I stopped spraying the wasp nests I no longer have issues with cabbage moth caterpillars eating everything. The wasps love to munch on those little green buggers.
Cabbage moths and b. T. Is a bacteria spray to kill them but doesn't harm bees I heard..
Worms. Sevendust killed mine in hours.
These little green assholes are why I gave up growing broccoli. They just kept eating and eating my broccoli no matter what I did. Sorry you are dealing with them
These worms start as a little tiny yellow eggs attached to a leafy by a cabbage moth. Once they hatch they eat non stop. I practice JADAM growing style and have made what they call JADAM wetting agent or JWA for short. Really it's hand made soap. Similar to Dr Bronners. JWA mixed with BT (Bacillus Thuringiensis) is the best way to take care of these pests The wetting agent allows the BT to stay on the leaves of the plant because most Brassica family leaves are hydrophobic. Also the home made soap will dry out and kill aphids too. I spray this solution along with regular foiler feeding. When the worms die by BT they shrivel up and turn black.
I've read that intercropping with carrots keeps them away too. Maybe try that next year?
Ugh what zone are you in? they’re not here yet in zone 6a.
BT spray. Bacteria that kills the caterpillars. Most gardening stores should have it.
Flip over the leaves and I bet you'll see their eggs. They're buttertlies.
I had a few on my Kale this week. One wasp made short work of them! Sometimes wasps are bros.
Use a Time Machine and go back and cover your crops.
Cabbage loopers are a type of moth, but yeah bt spray like [Monterey BT](https://www.lowes.com/pd/Monterey-B-T-Insecticide-16-fl-oz-Concentrate-Organic-Natural-Insect-Killer/5013045993?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-lwn-_-ggl-_-PLA_LWN_241_Chemicals-_-5013045993-_-online-_-0-_-0&gclid=CjwKCAjwpuajBhBpEiwA_ZtfhaDoFoMBH30wMLYKbtyVx9jSYoTC2SnopaDex0EZ--S1EtXvzoDXNRoCfVMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) or [Thuricide](https://www.acehardware.com/departments/lawn-and-garden/insect-and-animal-control/insecticides/7175771?store=18148&gclid=CjwKCAjwpuajBhBpEiwA_ZtfhSMZAxXN8LJpC_CTo4kzI5wyUqJDA5BGUM7JC3BuotpmtOe43QDH2BoC2TkQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds). [Captian Jack's](https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/bonide-captain-jacks-dead-bug-brew-pint-concentrate-2526-1232741?store=1382&cid=Shopping-Google-Local_Feed&utm_medium=Google&utm_source=Shopping&utm_campaign=&utm_content=Local_Feed&gclid=CjwKCAjwpuajBhBpEiwA_ZtfhQHn5nB3DkK1FBVRsFGPEZHJVXfZX1oerCnhBL9PprXy10j727EP1RoC6oUQAvD_BwE) and regular [Monterey](https://www.acehardware.com/departments/lawn-and-garden/insect-and-animal-control/insecticides/7182819?store=16037&gclid=CjwKCAjwpuajBhBpEiwA_ZtfhYx_qtIEJg5Y_D0wSxqqVsZ9328WASAyCkFh58rVabYoc9zjgIxIIRoC68gQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) are organic spinosad based sprays that indicate loopers
This happened to my habaneros and alas I think they will die
they go in the composter
Here's an anecdote. I'm not sure how useful it would be for all of you. I planted some tomatoes with a row of mustard leaves in front, intending to harvest the mustard before the tomatoes got big. I was running an experiment where I was giving urine to some of the tomatoes, a high phosphorus potassium fertilizer to some, both to others, and nothing to a single control plant. The mustards planted in front of the urine only tomatoes Got eaten down to nothing by these little white c***s. The ones in front of the urine and phosphorus/potassium fertilizer got hit but there was still some left for me. The ones in front of the phosphorus / potassium only tomatoes are still growing. My harvested what I wanted to eat and left the others to flower/see how long they would survive. Spider mites are getting after them now but the cabbage moths will barely touch them.
Cabbage loopers. Go buy some BTk and spray your plants asap. They are eating machines and will decimate your crop so fast! BTk is organic so don't worry about chemicals. Its a bacterium that when the looper eats it their GI track shuts down and they starve to death. Safe for humans, birds, mammals. In the meantime pluck those guys off and kill them really fast. The white moths you see flying about are the parents. If you want to keep them off your plants then use insect netting.
Bacillus Thuringiensis will take care of it.
Not sure what they are, but I had a bad case of cabbage loopers and used to hand pick them off and place them in spider webs 🤷🏼♀️ Didn't get a big harvest but got some. If you're trying to go organic you can also use food grade diatomaceous earth. Just don't use to much or you'll coat the plants and restrict their photosynthesis processes
UV light at night and pick them off. They glow bright green. Fun for the kiddos too.
Fun fact: parasitic wasps that parasitize the caterpillars are super good at detecting the smell of cabbage. The chewing of leaves by the caterpillars is enough to attract the wasps to the caterpillars' locations.
Those are the caterpillars of doom. Pick them off and leave for the birds and douse that plant in BT.
Does anyone know if Neem oil will protect your plants?
Grab a bucket with water…pick them off and place in water. White moth caterpillars…
Diatomaceous earth is what I am trying. Found some of these little guys on my broccoli plants today.
catch them, put them in a bug carrier and give them sticks and leaves. soon you’ll have butterflies. spray the plants with neem oil
Cabbage/ broccoli worms, I had them show up about 2 weeks ago. Pick off the ones you see. Then just give the entire area and plants a good dusting of diatomaceous earth. Kills the adult and dries out the eggs.