Caterpillars have decimated my beet leaf.

[Chomerly]

I've tried my best to go the none pesticide route but my beet leaf and lettuces, along with some damage to my chilli plants have been absolutely decimated by caterpillars.

I don't have an appropriate place at the moment to use netting as my garden is undergoing a bit of a redesign so it keeps the kids away from my veggies but can anyone recommend a natural way of dealing with them without the need to kill them off?

[rustylady]

Well if you don't want to kill them you could carefully pick them off by hand, put them into a bowl or bucket and relocate them somewhere far away from your garden

[marchogaeth]

You might not be able to invest in "proper" mesh but what about net curtains from a charity shop. The other problem is that, if you have already got caterpillars, the net won't get rid of them. Also they keep coming for weeks - I got some on PSB and am still squishing two weeks after netting them and thinking I'd done a good job of cleaning the plants up!

What type of caterpillars have you got? All the crops you mention are ones that I don't really think of as being prone to caterpillar damage.

[Two_Sheds]

the crops you mention are ones that I don't really think of as being prone to caterpillar damage.

That's what I thought. I've never seen a caterpillar on a beet, although you do get Zazen's little green abseiling ones on chillies in the greenhouse.

Unless you've lost all the beet leaves, I wouldn't be worrying about it, tbh. A little damage is normal, and is the price we pay for having diversity of species (without caterpillars, we'd have no blue tits)

Sparrows & woodpigeons will eat beet leaves, esp if they're thirsty. Do you put water out for the birds, Chomerly?

[Chomerly]

Hi all,

Sorry fo the late reply.

I couldn't tell you what types they are.
All i do know is that i've seen what my other half calls "cabbage butteflies" flying around and i suspect its from them.
There may also have been moth caterpillars too as when i've checked the plants a few have flown off.
I have also found what appeared to be eggs under some leaves but i spent about half an hour going over the leaves to wipe them off.

My beet are pretty much decimated to be honest and i think my only option would be to cut of the stalks where the leaves have been totally stripped and give some new shoots a chance to grow.
They were pretty much ready to be harvested because i planted them so late in the season.
I think i had a little over a week left to go.

[marchogaeth]

I couldn't tell you what types they are.

Did you see what colour they were? If you didn't see any actual caterpillars I'd still think it wasn't the problem but would be thinking slugs even on the chillies.

I have also found what appeared to be eggs under some leaves but i spent about half an hour going over the leaves to wipe them off.

What did the eggs look like?

[Chomerly]

The butterfly was white in colour and there have been a few flying around.
The caterpillars I have pulled off of my chilli plants and beet leaf have been a light green colour and the others have been large brown ones.
I had also seen some little brown, poo like droppings, which when I investigated further using Google, turned out to be caterpillar droppings and not some form eggs as I had originally thought.

The actual eggs, or what I assume to be eggs that I did find stuck to the underside of some leaves, were white and seem to have been laid in a uniform line next to each other.
I have wiped off what I could and have trimmed back the beet leaf to try and encourage some new growth so I can enjoy them prior to the season's end.

[marchogaeth]

Sounds like you've got moth caterpillars, then, not with standing the cabbage white you describe. You could try googling unless you can post a pic here. If it is then they could be deep down in the roots when you can't see them - worth checking. Or there are green ones that literally abseil in from plants growing above.

[Two_Sheds]

I've never seen a caterpillar on a beet

I've got 2 rows of really healthy beet plants (ruby chard) and the only holes have been made by baby snails.

However, the CWB caterpillars have stripped my horseradish !

[Chomerly]

The one issue I really haven't had so far has been slugs or snails.
I've been pretty vigilant in removing them from my garden as soon as I see any.
Since doing so I have only seen 3 in the last month at night.

I thing I'm going to use a pesticide to deal with them.
Apart from them attacking my chilli plants and beet, the have also had a go at my lettuces. And, I've seen some little white bugs crawling across the surface of the soil for some them and are congregating near a few exposed roots.

I don't want them being killed off by bugs as I want to let some of my lettuces, amongst other crops, running to seed so I can use them for next years growing season.
I've got almost everything planned out on what, and where, I will be growing my veggies and the seeds I get from allowing a certain amount of my crop to run to seed is vital to it.

[Two_Sheds]

Make sure you're only saving the seed of the very best crops, not anything that is weak or weedy, or went to seed prematurely

(isn't it going to cost you more in bug spray than you'll save in seed?)

[Chomerly]

Not really.
I've found an infestation at the base of the stems for on of my parsley plants.
I only checked my plants for pests a couple of weeks ago and all seemed fine.
Now though, when you look at them, you would think they had been there for months.