Brassicas & caterpillars

[wattapain]

Hi - just wondered if it's safe to get the cabbages/ spinach etc out from their netting yet as they're now starting to touch the top.
Is the butterfliy egg laying over?

Have caught a lone butterfly under the cloche - ( let it out as I quite like them - long as they're not laying their eggs on my brassicas >:()
Have seen the odd one fluttering about, but hopefully breeding is over now - just have slugs, cabbage root fly to contend with now  ::)

Terri

[wattapain]

[telboy]

If you can be confident that the 'flying rats' won't be a problem, I don't see why not.

[PurpleHeather]

The cabbage whites are still about. 

I'd leave it a week

[tim]

It only needs one to spell disaster!

[Froglegs]

It only needs one to spell disaster!

Ya telling me. :'(

[saddad]

I have a patch that looks like that as well Froglegs!  ;D

[wattapain]

OK, thanks guys - guess i'll leave them under cover for a bit then.

[martinrowe]

There seems to be a lot of caterpillars around this year, compared to to the last four or so.  Has anybody noticed this as well?

[thifasmom]

yep, certainly more than last year. last year i only had the green which i was able to control just  by picking them off, but this year i had both the green and stripped ones and had to resort to a homemade insecticide made from rhubarb leaves, which did do the trick.

[Duke Ellington]

How do you make the homemade rhubarb insecticide?

Duke

[thifasmom]

How do you make the homemade rhubarb insecticide?

Duke

hi Duke, here is a link to some recipes, i used recipe no:1 and substituted a few squirts of washing up liquid in place of soap flakes.

http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/rhubarb-uses.html#TOC71

be aware though if you do use it make sure you leave lots time between spraying and eating any leaves/ veges as the rhubarb will also make you quite sick if ingested. because of this i only use it on crops where i am not eating the leaves or where the fruit/ veg has not yet appeared such as runnerbeans and broadbeans to combat blackfly.

on another note, this year i didnot use it on my runnerbeans as they were covered with ladybugs and their larva, which would of also succumb to the insecticide. this lead to a poor crop early in the season for me but the plants look really prolific now and we are enjoying a late bumper harvest, the ladybugs have also done their job and got rid of all the blackfly. :)

oh! here are a few more homemade insecticide recipes:

http://www.essortment.com/all/homemadeorgani_renu.htm

http://www.riverhouse.com.au/recipes/pest_control.html#Horsetail%20Spray

http://www.oisat.org/control_methods/other_substances/baking_soda.html

http://www.wikihow.com/Keep-Rabbits-out-of-Your-Garden-Organically

i have not used any of these except another one for red spider mite with some effect, i am trying to just let my garden build its own defences, but they may come in useful from time to time when there are very heavy infestations. and don't forget these recipes are still INSECTICIDES and although homemade are still very much poisons and should be used cautiously, but then again you probably already know that ;D (sorry for rabbiting on) hope they help :D.

[Duke Ellington]

Thanks for those links. I am always trying to find more natural products to use on my allotment!
This year I have been using the garlic wash as a slug deterrant! I have found it works quite well.

Duke

[posie]

Most of mine look like yours Froglegs - is it worth leaving them in and hoping they recover?

[saddad]

If the heart hasn't gone they will recover just be later than normal... my bed that got savaged is just beginning to recover three weeks after the main infestation...  ::)

[posie]

Hmmmm, the heart is there, just in lots of different bits!

[saddad]

We are looking for the tiny growing point right in the middle if you have a real "head" then you are in business, if not then it will make smaller heads like the stumps do when you cut a cross in them...  :-\

[thifasmom]

Thanks for those links. I am always trying to find more natural products to use on my allotment!
This year I have been using the garlic wash as a slug deterrant! I have found it works quite well.

Duke

oh i have thought of using this one, but never got round to it sounds like a good idea for young plants, what have you used it on. I'm going to try this method next year and this autumn.

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,4440.0.html