No end to the cabbage worms

Today we bought some broccoli, collard greens, and head lettuce plants for our fall garden. I hoped it was late enough for the cabbage moths to be gone, but as we were checking out at the store, a cabbage moth landed on cabbage plants next to us inside the store.

Does anyone know how long cabbage worms hang around southern Missouri? I've never grown fall broccoli before. Do the worms get into collards?

I looked for Dipel but Wal-Mart didn't have any.

I do not have an answer to that, but they do seem to be a late summer bug. I did buy some Thuricide with them in mind. I have not planted yet, but I feel more prepared.

yup, thuricide!

I've used Dipel before, but not Thuricide. Are they the same? (Containing bacillus thuriengesis?)

yeah I think so...

I am trying row cover this fall. I have not been able to find any chemicals like Thuricide to thwart them.

I saw Dipel a couple of places in spring, but haven't been able to find it now. I hope the weather will soon get cool enough that the cabbage moths will go wherever they go in winter.

Do you know how long they hang around in the Upper South?

I am reading a VERY informative book by Lolo Houbein named 'One Magic Square'.

Sorta/kinda like SFGing. Her beds are 3x3.

She endured a severe famine in her country the winter of 1944-45 during the war. She was 5'8" and at the worst of it weighed 75 lbs. 24,000 died from starvation there that winter.

In this book she shares what she has learned about gardening since then.

Her tip for stopping cabbage-white butterflies from laying eggs is to

'hammer 4 stakes at each corner of the bed around your cabbages. Cut butterfly shapes from a white plastic container and tie them on thin thread at handspan intervals. Tie the thread to each stake, crossing diagonally through the middle of the square in both directions.'

She said it worked for her. Supposedly they are territorial and think there are already CWs at that bed when they see the butterfly shapes and they move on. She said she did this for several years in succession after they ate her cabbages and even though they were still flying around, they left her cabbages alone.

I'm going to try it.

Betty

What a neat idea. It's worth a try. I may even add the black dots to the wings.

Thanks for sharing.

(Just wondering though, if they are territorial, why would I need to make so many moths? Wouldn't one or two work just as well? But I'll do as the lady said.)

I don't know why. She didn't say. She just said it worked for her.
Good luck.
Betty