Caterpillars

[Liam]

I've got caterpillars starting on the leaves of my broccoli, does anyone know of a totally organic solution to get rid of these little *%$&(*'s....I got a lot of cabbage and I'm afraid they're gonna launch an attack soon...any help appreciated

[john boy]

the only way i know is to pick them off,easyist way is to keep a look out for the eggs and rub them out .Its not to bad for me though i only grow about a doz hope this helps

[paulsherwin]

One trick is to plant some nasturtiums close to your crop. Cabbage white butterflies *love* nasturtiums and will lay their eggs on nasturtium leaves rather than your cabbages. Once they hatch the caterpillars are easy to remove because of the leaf shape.

Paul

[scanchas]

There must be a spray or powder come on guys some one be brave enough to name it I haven't got the time to go picking off the pesky caterpillars of my plants but I have to spray them with something that kills them and lets be honest thats wot we want to do to them

[Chopin]

Hello

I have had every caterpillar under the sun come and call my garden home this year. I have found so many different types that I am on an identification quest as I think I must have set a record for the most inclusive caterpillar community in the UK.

I have no organic solutions for you. Luckily my brocolli was at the end of its production cycle when it was hit and resorted to harvesting what I could and composting the rest. My peas, brocolli and cabbages were all infected and the buggers drop off and hide in the soil when you go to hunt them down, or burrow into your pea pods and gorge themselves.

Next year I will netting everything in sight but that does not help with this seasons problems. I ended up removing as many eggs as I could, picking off and transplanting any living caterpillars into the alley with some foilage to keep them busy and power spraying the veg each night. My problem is I hate killing anything, even the snails in my garden are subject to a rehoming plan rather than any traps or death patrols.

I wish you much luck - some orange caterpillars even savaged my mint and normally nothing touches that!

[Thorny]

Hi, caterpillar-killers are easily available in the garden centres, but are poisons, and I don't like spraying poisons (especially systemic ones) on stuff I hope to eat. Also this year I have a swarm of XXL size ladybirds and they and their larvae were doing a fantastic job on the aphids & little caterpillars, but unfortunately the caterpillars on the brassica are gradually winning. I didn't mind picking off the big ones and squelching them under my shoe, I even didn't mind (much) squelching the clusters of eggs between thumb and leaf (but pretty yuck!). But when faced with a dozen freshly hatched little wigglers I couldn't cope. So I made up soap mix. I haven't used it before, and it was tedious as I had to spritz every individual muncher, but they die within a few seconds and then got washed off next time I irrigated with the sprinkler. PUt 1/2 a tablespoon of washing up liquid in a litre of water, which is considerably cheaper than the garden centre, and acts as a physical barrier (they suffocate) NOT a systemic poison. If you want to fine tune, you can add chilli water to act as a deterrent - half a dozen chillies boiled up in half a pint of water, add a couple of tablespoons to the sprayer. Even better, add 4 drops of insect deterring Essential Oil (NB not the same as the whole herb!!) eg cedarwood, lavender or peppermint. You only use a small amount of the litre sprayer at once, 'cos you are targeting the individual beasties (or groups of them), so it lasts for ages. And it does'nt go off, and it's not poisonous if the dog licks it (and he won't do that again if you use the chilli!). So easy! and CHEAP!! Now I am going out to give my brassica a nice feed of (non-organic) high nitrogen to help them recover from losing so much leaf. Happy gardening, Thorny.

[mor]

l read that the best and simply way is first to prevent the molds from laying theirs eggs on to the plant. you will need to put some net which is supported by stakes over the broccol.

[0rco!]

You could try spraying with liquid derris but you need to keep doing it as it seems to wear off. It's easier to get yourself some decent garden netting and put it over some canes