caterpillars

oldtractor

my lovely pointy cabbages are decimated. Hundreds of fat caterpillars. I bought netting in early spring but for a number of reasons didnt get to sort out the new brassica bed so I just planted the brassicas here and there amongst other things. The things are ruined. I thought it might happen but am still upset. Will start harvesting the caulis tomorrow before they are ruined too.

emiff6

Oh, bad luck, oldtractor.

Growing brassicas is definitely a case of hope triumphing over experience. We KNOW the butterflies WILL find them, but we HOPE they don't, and then it's heartbreaking to find them decimated practically overnight.

This year I've squashed 12 cabbages (all I have room for) under micromesh which I stitched over a 3 x 3 x 3 foot old cloche frame as my kale was clobbered last year and I got fed up of picking eggs and caterpillars off.

shandypants5

Badluck oldtractor.

I got sick of fighting the butterlies too, so now have an enviromesh frame that I can lift on and off my raised bed.

Seems to be working so far, but to be honest I havent really seen many white butterflies this year.

Biggles

At least with butterflies, you can spot the eggs in time to snap that part of the leaf off before the caterpillars hatch, so preventing any damage.

[Deleted User]

I read this thread and took a close look at mine in my raised bed at home, all brassicas on the allotment are well and truly under cover, the relatively few at home are not. Yuk, I haven`t seen any eggs but disturbed lots of whiteflies and had a good look into one that is a bit holey and it is full of gunk, either snail gunk or caterpillar gunk. It`s horrible and I have pulled the 3 cabbages and 3 baby caulies, to heck with it and have sown phacelia green manure instead. The bed has produced lovely cabbages earlier on but summer is the hard time.

angelavdavis

No, it's that nasty time of the year when the dreaded cabbage white butterfly defies all human barriers and manages to break in and lay their eggs on your cabbages and turn them into nasty mush only good for the compost.

Like other contributors, I also have forked out for enviromesh - having spent years using cheaper netting and finding that actually a cabbage white can actually squeeze through a hole a quarter of their physical size (but never work out how to escape, therefore torturing you with their "let me out" game after they have laid their years worth of eggs all over the crop!

foxgloves

No damage yet, using netting bought of a roll at the garden centre which is fixed over the beds using canes with yoghurt pots on the top, wieghted down by old bricks. Caulis nearly all harvested now and a little slug damage but no caterpillars or eggs.......it's July/Aug that butterflies seem most active so I'm hoping that the summer cabbages will be as lucky. I've got tiny winter cabbage plants well wrapped in fleece on the patio as they are going into the bed as soon as the last of the caulis are out, and I've seen a couple of whites sniffing them out already....(As fast as me seeking out a caramel shortbread!) Lots of aphiddy things around brassica beds which fly up when I hose them.

oldtractor

UPDATE all is not lost. I had a good root around today and discovered that 2 at the row end are totally ruined as are some young brussel sprout plants but others hidden nearer the peas and beans are ok,so have pulled them and had 1 cabbage for lunch with HG potatoes and some left over beef from sunday. very nice it was too. the rest will be eaten,by me and the family rather than the caterpillars during the week ahead. phew.

emiff6

Biggles wrote: »

At least with butterflies, you can spot the eggs in time to snap that part of the leaf off before the caterpillars hatch, so preventing any damage.

It's easy to spot the ones that are laid in a bunch of 10 or 20, but it's the little perishers that lay one egg per leaf that make it so frustrating and time-consuming to search for them.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I have a cat that hides under the chair and lies in wait for the cabbage whites. She thinks that mice are boring, but flying things are worth a punt. I swear that they take one look at her and zip off next door to murder their crops instead.

[Deleted User]

I went to the allotment and saw a cabbage white hovering over and very close to, my raised bed, which is packed with beautiful cabbages. I didn`t worry because the bed is covered in environmesh and I went closer. Arghhh, it was inside the environmesh :eek: what a sick feeling. I nursed these cabbages since the day they were born and they have never been away from netting

They are samara cabbages and can stand for 4 months and are just starting to form hearts so I had nothing to lose and I removed quite a few of the large sprawling leaves and also the dead matter. There was the solitary egg on various leaves :eek: and it`s hard to see closely from 2 feet away. The bed now looks more airy but I am going to have to keep watch like never before. I watered with comfrey as I hear that it deters slugs so any holes will be suspicious

Those pesky caterpillars can so quickly make a cabbage un eatable