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Help to identify this caterpillar please

millicent
millicent Posts: 234 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper Debt-free and Proud!
edited 6 June 2010 at 1:21PM in Gardening
They are chomping their way through my plants at a rate of knots!

th_IMG_0458.jpg
Click to enlarge
46,484 > 0(January):beer:

100%paid:D

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Comments

  • prettypennies
    prettypennies Posts: 1,541 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    edited 6 June 2010 at 8:38PM
    looks like a cabbage white caterpillar to me. One option to protect future crops if they are a particular problem is to grow under enviromesh. On our school plot last year, the children took great delight in picking them of our brassicas.
    Twins, twice the laughs, twice the fun, twice the mess!:j:j
  • Farway
    Farway Posts: 15,243 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Homepage Hero Name Dropper
    Cabbage White it is. Kill whilst you have the chance or you will just have lace curtains left
    When an eel bites your bum, that's a Moray
  • conradmum
    conradmum Posts: 5,018 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Those clusters of yellow dots on the leaves behind are the eggs. Squish them too.
  • foxgloves
    foxgloves Posts: 13,137 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    It's very similar to cabbage white but actually, I think it's the caterpillar to the mullein moth. If it's not chomping through cabbages & nasturtiums but instead is gobbling your verbascums, then that's what it is.....................but yes, it's a 'Squish' from me too!
    2026's challenges: 1) To rebuild our Emergency Fund to at least £5k.
    2) To read 50 books (5/50) 3) The Re-Shrinking of Foxgloves 8.1kg/30kg
  • ds1980
    ds1980 Posts: 1,213 Forumite
    woah! can't you just collect and throw in a field next time you're out in the car?
  • conradmum
    conradmum Posts: 5,018 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    ds1980 wrote: »
    woah! can't you just collect and throw in a field next time you're out in the car?

    What would be the point of that? The caterpillars will die either way.
  • ljonski
    ljonski Posts: 3,337 Forumite
    Thats right most catapillars i think only feast on one type of food and will starve to death if not avaiable.
    "if the state cannot find within itself a place for those who peacefully refuse to worship at its temples, then it’s the state that’s become extreme".Revd Dr Giles Fraser on Radio 4 2017
  • gardenroute
    gardenroute Posts: 232 Forumite
    You could move at least a couple onto a plant of the same family such as aubrieta or honesty. Or even leave them in a bowl for the birds. Seems a bit harsh to kill baby butterflies
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