Cabbage caterpillas

[Iwantgreenfingers]

I have cabbages teaming with caterpillas - I know its my own silly fault for not netting them in the first place but I have seriously never seen so many. How do I get rid of these pests??? I am worried about them spreading to all the other crops tho for the time being they seem to be leaving the corgette and squash plants alone!

[lynda66]

you're gonna have to pick them off, or if you aren't bothered about organic, then get some bug killer.

i've not netted mine either, but i go round a couple of times a week, and squish the eggs, and remove any caterpillars, then spray with garlic/chilli powder/ and paprika juice, with a few drops of soap. it does work if you're consistent, the bugs have had a few plants, but i sowed tons, and actually one cauli i was going to pull up cos there were no leaves left, has just started growing new leaves.

the leaves on most of the veg are a bit holey, but i'm not gonna sell them.

[zazen999]

Then, once you have sprayed with the chilli spray, you can chop the bitten leaves off and they will grow on and rejuvenate. You've got to keep on with the spray though, twice a week I do ours.

[Iwantgreenfingers]

Brilliant well I'll definately give that spray a try!! Thanks a lot

[zazen999]

When you do make it, the first batch is always really strong and you can watch the caterpillars squirming in agony.

[lynda66]

and it's good when you get a cabbage white in the eye too

[Hilary B]

Cabbage white caterpillars do NOT eat anything other than brassicas. They will happily demolish your cabbages, brussel-sprouts, cauliflower, brocolli, kale, and maybe ever the leaves of the turnips and swedes, but they won't touch courgettes.
You can (or at least you could) buy a 'biological warfare' approach to caterpillars. You mix up the powder with water as per instructions and spray it on the plants. Caterpillars which eat those leaves die. It is a bacterial culture, and cannot harm anything except caterpillars. Basically the caterpillar equivalent of plague.....

Just checked, no longer available 'for garden use' (pity a good idea if used sensibly)

[lynda66]

actually they like nasturtiums too, i had loads on mine munching away

[MaureenHall]

I'm going to use nasturtiums next year as "sacrificial plants". This is my first year of growing brassicas and I didn't know about covering the seedlings with netting. I've been using the Garlic Fire spray almost daily as well as picking the bigger 'pillars off and chucking them in the nettles so the birds can get at them (well that's what a "knowledgeable " person on the lottie told me to do). Not sure yet who's winning, but I've harvested a cauli and that was ok, and it looks like there'll be some broccolli ready very soon. As for the savoy's, they're looking very holey, so I think they might just be treats for the chooks - after I've given them a wash to get the spray off!

[Iwantgreenfingers]

Could anyone tell me the quantaties of the spray to mix up- enough to last me a few days of attack!

[lynda66]

i used 3 whole garlic bulbs, 2 tsp hot chilli, 2 tsp paprika,2 tsp ginger, and a couple of squirts of washing up liquid, put it in the blender all together, with water, liquidised, then poured it into a 4 pint milk bottle, then filled it up, left it to settle overnight, then poured off the top liquid, (the sediment sinks to the bottom) into a squirter. lasts for ages.

i guess curry powder would work too

[lynda66]

I'm going to use nasturtiums next year as "sacrificial plants". !

unless you have a lot of space, make sure you grow the small ones, i have massive ones that took over the flower bed, and i ended up pulling most of them out, as they were overcrowding everything else. if you want some big ones with dark red flowers i can save you some seeds.

they also attract blackfly.