Cabbage Whites

[pumpy]

Remain vigilant!! Just when you thought it was safe to go out in the brassicas......i found today that the bu**ers are starting to lay a 2nd clutch of eggs,(or,at least, hereabouts anyway).

[Mr and Mrs luvpie]

the little b*$%£rds have just about wiped out all ours too, they are out in force on a load of the plots, does anybody know a repellent?

[pumpy]

Derris powder, so i'm told by others.

[lsm1066]

My brassicas also currently look like skeletons. Not a leaf to be seen, or so I thought. But when was out in the patch yesterday, preparing to dig them all up and chalk it up to experience, there they were all throwing out new growth! I shall be keeping an eye out for more eggs, but should I cut the bald stalks or leave them to get on with it?

Lynne

[pumpy]

leave 'em be. You'll be surprised how quickly the plants can recover....given a little attention.

[richyboy]

We grew all our cabbages, etc. under netting this year. Unfortunately it made us very complacent about picking off the eggs and as a result we ate one cabbage when it was very young and the others got composted.

It seems that the butterflies had layed through the net. Does napalm work as a repellent?

[Silver Ether]

oh my poor poor broccoli ... afraid I resorted to some spray from wilkos ... I did try so hard to not spray, but the do seem to be recovering ...

[Millymollymandy]

I was just reading yesterday in a French gardening magazine that if you lay branches of broom or male fern (? is that Dryopteris Felix-mas? It was written in French so not sure what fern they are referring to; I've just translated literally) beside or on top of your cabbages the scent is supposed to repel the butterflies. I haven't tried it but I have broom growing here wild so might try that.

Yes think it is this fern

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dryopteris

[sleepyowl]

You could do sacrifice planting of nasturtiums if all else fails

[Peggy Sue]

I'm really not impressed. I wtched a cabbage white squeeze skillfully through the butterfly netting and flutter away having spend quite a bit of time and money on netting all the brassicas- not to mention weeding agro involved under netting

I have to say teh nasturiums nearby are untouched so looks like that isn't working that well either

So having given away about 2 dozen lovely healthy palnts coz I ahd too many I now have a dozen purple broccoli skeleton to be proud of

[Merry]

I`ve seen the little brutes do this as well - they sort of squiggle their wings together and get through the mesh. I don`t suppose they`d be able to get through fleece though, I`m going to try that next year.
(I`ve noticed that gardening is all about next year - with me anyway)

[Mrs Moustoir]

We've been plagued by the dreaded cabbage whites too - despite netting the purple sprouting broccoli and winter cabbages.

They don't seem to like the red cabbages though as they are the only brassicas we have that don't look like net curtains.

[Peggy Sue]

I don't have red cabbage but I do have purple brussels. They haven't had as many caterpillars but I ahve found a few there- interesting, there must be something in that pigment?

[Mrs Moustoir]

Perhaps they don't smell as appetising to the adult butterflies...

[sleepyowl]

They do like green foliage, they are not even that keen on variegated leaves either