Topic: caterpillars

[Chilipepper]

been to the lottie today and my cabbages and brussels are covered with caterpillars
have removed as many as I can , as im new to lotties anyone know anything to get rid of them?

[STEVEB]

squish the little bleeders

[saddad]

Yes, but I vote with Steve's solution....  :-X

[Trevor_D]

Sudden influx yesterday. Sprayed 'em with Derris. I don't think it's killed them all, but they were all coughing a lot.

[Chilipepper]

there is hundreds and i mean hundreds id be there all day every day for a week if i had to squish em all

[artichoke]

It's very depressing. My psbs have been reduced to skeletons. Yesterday I un-netted them, squished a lot of caterpillars (I had already sprayed them but they loved the spray), cut off the most infested leaves and threw them far away, and now that the netting is off I hope birds will eat them.

[beanie3]

One word - evil.....

My sprouting brocolli - are sprouting twigs - grrrr - i like butterflies and all but caterpillars dont eat MY veg!!!!!

[star]

Chillipepper, be persistant. Keep squishing.......I have been doing that for days, I think Im winning now. Have a rummage when you first get there, give it an hour then have another go.

Its amazing how they just present themselves on top of the leaves, makes finding them loads easier. As long as they leave the growing tip alone your brassicas should come back ok.

They are a real menace this year

[Philbasford]

u need sum chickens to eat them!

[TheEssexYorkshireman]

I lost all my PSB to the B*st*rds and my cauliflowers look like shuttlecocks. I dug them up, put them on a piece of blue tarpaulin and performed the Mexican Hat Dance on them much to the amusement of my fellow allotmenteers. What is the answer? This is my 1st full season so new to this too.

[Debenvalley]

I didn't have any problems last year but I got back from my hols on saturday and went to the lottie to find all 8 rows of my brassicas stripped bare - the whole bed were just stalks :'(

Luckily I had some spare plants - 3 PSB and 1/2 a row of Savoy cabbage - which I'd put into a gap on the far side of the plot. These are damaged but the hearts look OK so hopefully they'll survive ??

They are also on my Kale, Swede and Turnip. I'm going down every day now to pick off any of the little blighters I can find and squishing them !! I don't think there's a lot else I can do.

All that hard work gone but I did harvest the first sweetcorn of the year for my lunch and my first ever maincrop potatos (desiree) for our sunday roast so that did cheer me up a bit :)

Darren

[Suzanne]

I cover my brussels etc with environmesh and no problem - see below.

My PSB which goes in later I didn't cover and paying for it now with daily squishings. Its not the mess when you squish them - I wear gloves - but I hate the slight pop.

[debster]

my kale and psb have been decimated by caterpillars and even have them on my tomatoes eating them  :o

[asbean]

Everything's been shredded  >:( >:( >:( :'( :'( :'( >:( >:( >:( :( :( :( :(

[Debenvalley]

The worse thing is we still have butterflys still flying around..... looking for more places to lay another batch  >:(

[growmore]

 I ain't seen em any worse than this .There has been a real plague if them this year  >:(
Squishing is fine IF you have loads of time and not a lot of brassicas..I couldn't control them this way .. So I use a spray on them ...Bug Clear seems to control them ok.    Have decided mine are going under debris netting cloches next year ..

[toddy1064]

Just got back from hols to find all my PSB and cauli's stripped totally bare - am I too late to get replacement plants?  Looking at the other posts I had better get netting, spray and a machine gun post ready for next year!

Also all my potatoes 3 varieties Arran Victory King Ted and Desiree - luxuriant foliage when I left (some flowering some had just finished flowering)- 2 weeks later brown stalks, I know they are meant to die back but this seems v sudden, should I be worried?

Can you tell I am a newbie??

[twinkletoes]

Suzanne you should try humming loudly to yourself while squishing (or singing out loud) - that'll stop you hearing the pop.....   ;D
twinkletoes

[Sean and Julie]

It would seem that it is the whole country who is suffering this year with the little bleeders, i must admitt i have a plague of them too here in sussex and this is my 1st year it is a bit disheartening to find your eforts being eaten before you get a chance yourself, we will all learn a lesson from this and cover them next year i have already brought a fleece to cover them,

 But an oldtimer allotmenter told me no matter how much you want to keep it organic sometimes its just worth spraying them with derris once in the evening on a still dry night and that will be it "job done" and you should see his 3 10 pole plots

Sean

[froglets]

Plant nasturtiums - the caterpillers will eat them first.

A sacrificial crop which also attracts pollinators for other crops.  I swear by 'em!