Sprout Diaster PLEASE HELP

[afrench108]

i have just returned from a weeks hol and my sprout plants are absolutely covered in thin green/white caterpillars!!! its the 1st time i have grown sprouts and they have been stripped off all but a few outer leaves, can i save the crop and how???? if i loose the crop can i just compost them with all the little B******S on!!!!
Time is of the essence

[zazen999]

Either pick them off or spray with garlic and chilli spray [use search on here for recipe]. Do this every few days [or every day if they are that bad]

It often happens with brassicas, but if you get them in time they usually grow bak. chuck some chicken pellets on the soil and water in to give a boost of nitrogen to help them fight the nibbling.

[amandaandherveg]

My hatred of caterpillars almost equals my hatred of snails. Always something to contend with isn't there?

[NSB]

I tried spraying mine but it didnt work so I pulled the whole lot up. ba.....s

[afrench108]

I think i going to be pulling them up as well but i will try the spray, think they too far gone... can you compost them with the B******S ON!!!

[Two_Sheds]

Yes, compost them. Jump up and down on the plants to squish the bleeders first, or they'll try and wriggle away. I haven't seen one escape out of my Dalek yet though

the caterpillars are a real problem this year ... I've even got them under my nets. Perhaps oil seed rape is to blame? It's a brassica, so may support greater numbers of cabbage butterfly

[squashysu]

i made the spray (my god hold your nose and use gloves cause it stinks) - but so far i have been seeing butterflies flying past my cabbage, caulis and sprouts today, remember though, when it rains to replace and hold your nose again!!!!!

do though check them everyday for the eggs that have been left to hatch! i am still squishing a few each day, but its getting less and less!

[Two_Sheds]

Garlic Spray

Blend 100g of crushed garlic cloves, 0.5 litres of water and 10g of soap (Use potash based soft soap that is used for washing dishes, not anything containing caustic soda which will harm plants).

Mix well. Strain the mixture through a fine cloth. Dilute the solution in 5 litres of water.

Use immediately. Garlic is effective against a wide range of diseases and insects at different stages in their life cycle (egg, larvae, adult). This includes ants, aphids, caterpillars & whitefly

[afrench108]

gave it best shot but they have this morning gone in the compost bin, I DID enjoy the jumping on them!! thanks for the help and especially two sheds as i'm going to use the diluted mix today on my other compost bin as its still full of ants, AGAIN!!!! What i would give to be pest free....

[Becca]

I'm trying something I saw online which seemed worth a punt if nothing else.. you water the plants then sprinkle them with flour.. theory being the caterpillers get all glued up in the flour and fall off and presumably get eaten by something.. no idea yet if it works but i didn;t have an empty spray thing handy for the other option so i gave it a try.. before i did it I also picked all the caterpillars I could see of to give to my chickens (who ignored them but seemed worth a go..)

[womble]

The chickens will eat the green caterpillars you find on brassicas, but not the yellow/green ones which are from the large white I think.

[JILLY JACKSON]

Yep, thats certainly the case here,green ones gone,yellow /green just left by my birds.Thousands of them seemed to appear all of a sudden.made a big pile of them in the middle of the grass in the vain hope that some other creature might like to eat them.Something has had some.