Cabbage Worms! I think...

Blackrose 6/29/2010, 8:26 pm

Since I am a new gardener, I'm not entirely sure that I have cabbage worms in my garden. But, they are little green worms that seem to like my broccoli, so I'm guessing that's what it is. Nasty little suckers. I squished 5 from one plant and one from another.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get rid of them besides going out 3 times a day to squish them? I think I read somewhere that you can dust the plants with flour and they will eat it and bloat and die. Has anyone ever tried this?

**camprn** 6/29/2010, 10:02 pm

i have 88 sq ft in my garden and 2 dozen brassicas. I find that hunting and hand squishing the cabbage worm is most effective, doesn't take too long and doesn't effect any other creature. I inspect everyday for the dreaded cabbage worm. I have not heard of the flour trick.

chocolatepop 6/29/2010, 10:59 pm

idk if you guys have it easier but i have 2 dozen or so also, but there is no way i can search and destroy. if i did i would end up like last year. i was out there two times/day and still they got shredded. if you only have one or two. you may be better off.

i have heard the flower thing, and tried it last year to no avail. this year i got BT and covered my babies and it seems to be working the best. i had one episode but it was quickly caught.

i also suggest (as boff does) some sacrifical brassica further away.

Blackrose 6/30/2010, 8:33 am

Thank you for the suggestions. I only have the one SFG box at the moment, so planting sacrificial brassicas might be a tad difficult. Do they like ornamental cabbage? Or does it have to be the edible kind? I may be able to find a place amongst my flowers to plant some cabbage and hope the cabbage moths lay their eggs there instead of on my broccoli.

chocolatepop 6/30/2010, 10:18 am

humm, idk if it matters which kind. i put my sacrifical cabbage in a bucket Wink

doc_jh 7/2/2010, 7:34 pm

I had cabbage worms bad last year so I tried to find something organic for this year and came up with something called Thuricide which has Bt in it. Supposed to only kill soft bodied insects like the worms without affecting birds, bees, us, etc. Can be sprayed up to day of harvest but has to be reapplied if it rains good. It has worked great so far. Only problem was finding it locally.

Blackrose 7/3/2010, 11:56 am

Well I'm happy to say that I haven't found anymore cabbage worms lately. I've been keeping a close eye out. I may have to put something over the broccoli to protect it from future infestations.

Anything that's a fine mesh will work, right? I don't need to buy something special from the garden centre?

silverbug 7/5/2010, 7:50 am

I can't find a single worm/bug anywhere when I go check, but my broccoli is a mess!!! Shredded. I've basicly given up on that whole box, but need to get my head around planting SOMETHING in it. Whatever is eating holes in the broccoli leaves, is devouring my sweet pea flower vines/leaves as well. That box looks horrendous. From right to left my peppers and tomatoes, eggplant and spring onion box are amazing and lush, then the peas, carrots, chard, lima beans, and okra, look "ok", and then that last box...whoa! scary. It's hard to understand how three boxes right next to one another could vary in their ability to thrive so much. It's super interesting.

**camprn** 7/5/2010, 10:15 am

I am sorry about your garden. The lowly cabbage worm is a master of camouflage. For the past few days I have known the buggers were on my brassicas but I could not see them. My eyesight is not what it used to be so when I go hunting up critters in the garden I am now wearing 1.50 reading glasses and today I found many worms, hiding right in plain sight, before too much damage was done. Now my brassicas are safe until the next set of eggs hatches.
Now that is not to say that you are missing them or that you may have some other critter chomping your veggies. Do you have a photo of the damage?

Blackrose 7/5/2010, 10:36 am

I thought I was rid of these pesky little guys. I hadn't seen any in a few days. I had another close look yesterday and found another fat one. He obviously had been hiding well.

Is there any way to destroy the eggs, or do I have to just keep going out and cleaning them off the broccoli?

**camprn** 7/5/2010, 10:59 am

Click here for a good, yet simple, tutorial of the cabbage worm.

Megan 7/5/2010, 11:12 am

Thanks Camprn. Hm. I have been seeing white butterflies with black spots that look an awful lot like Cabbage Butterflies. Except mine do NOT have the gray wingtips like this one here, plus, the bodies seem smaller. (I cannot get one to hold still long enough to take a picture... may have to resort to extreme measures.)

Cabbage Worms! I think... Cabbage-white-butterfly

Cabbage Worms! I think... Cabbage-white-butterfly

(source page)

Any idea if there is a version without the gray wingtips?

**camprn** 7/5/2010, 12:01 pm

Megan wrote:Any idea if there is a version without the gray wingtips?

http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=white+virginia+butterflies&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

I don't live in your area so I did a simple google search and I still have no answer , lol. Wink

Megan 7/5/2010, 12:21 pm

Much Google-fu you have!! Thanks. thanks

Think I'm going to have to try to trap one and make sure it really doesn't have those gray wingtips.

SFG in Chicago 7/11/2010, 5:03 pm

Get yourself some Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis). It takes days to kill them but it causes them to stop feeding on your plants within hours. It seems to work well for me.

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