Once upon a time, when I was a little girl, I proudly showed my grandma a wee sweet caterpillar. Instead of oohing and aahing over my find, Grandma snatched the wooly thing out of my hand and smashed it under foot. To her, it was simply a garden pest, but I was crushed. I like to think that I’d never do such a thing in front of a child, but I can and do handpick pests in the privacy of my own garden. Cabbage whites – more specifically, their caterpillars – are wreaking havoc on my kale and Brussels sprouts. The other day when a moth flew by, I did the logical thing and snatched it out of the air. There were no witnesses to my cruelty or to the fact that I’d snatched a moth right out of the air. I have turned into my Grandma, albeit a ninja version of my grandma.
Cabbage whites are drawn to brassicas (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, bok choy, kale…). Getting these plants established in a garden can be difficult when a single caterpillar can decimate a young plant. While they’re small, consider covering the plants with some sort of mesh to keep the moths off the leaves. I’m keeping my eyes open for wire mesh trash cans at the local thrift shops for just this use.
Now that my plants are bigger, I seem to be getting a handle on the pests by checking my plants every few days for eggs and caterpillars.
- Look on the under side of the leaf for tiny (TINY) yellow dots. These are eggs. Wipe them off.
- Also look on the under side of the leaves for tiny (TINY) green caterpillars. Wipe them off.
- Instead of removing the chewed, ugly old leaves from the plants, I’m leaving them intact as bait for the moths. I’d rather have the caterpillars chewing on those than the young leaves.
Photo by Flickr user jjjj56cp
I have managed to make them go elsewhere by adding my leftover coffee to the water I water them with. I also put the coffee grounds around their bases. I do not know if it worked or if my brussel sprouts just tasted better.
I haven’t tested this yet, but I’ve heard that if you plant a white flowering plant amongst the brassicas the cabbage whites think that patch is already overpopulated with butterflies, thus there won’t be enough food for their caterpillars, so they keep flying. (Not saying it’s a conscious thinking choice on their side, but lots of white in a brassica patch will supposedly keep them at bay.)
I am fiI am fighting these as well. I didn’t know what they were but I knew they are eating my Kale! I go out every morning and pick off a few. Now I know what to look for as far as the eggs and the adults. I am interested in your trap. Can’t wait til you share.
I have been puffing Diatamaceous Earth on mine and so far so good…..
@Lagene I’ve had mixed success with DE on some of my other plants, but maybe it’s worth a try on this!
Well, those little moths really are so pretty, though I understand where your grandma was coming from.
I’m interested in what sort of trap you’ll be setting up–sounds fascinating. This year, my garden will all be in pots. Small steps, one of these days I’ll try making a full garden again.
This is so timely! We have these again this year, in the veggie garden. A couple years ago I got some living thing, parasite something is all I can remember, and it caused the cabbage moths to die. I did not know about the yellow eggs. Will go and check the leaves right now.
Grandmothers were made of tougher stuff back then. Thanks for the funny image of your childhood horror.
I’m interested in your homemade trap. Hoping it works.
Goof luck hope the trap works!
Oops just realised to mistyped *good*, but good luck and even goof luck!!
Hope the traps work!! let me know the result!