Very basic question here, sorry folks....
I've never got into growing brassicas in a big way before so haven't paid much attention to cabbage whites.
I have noted all the extreme lengths many seem to go to on my allotment site to keep their brassicas under netting which I assume is to keep butterflies & pigeons away.
I have just set up some raised beds in my back garden & have noticed that even a small row of radish mixed into the middle of a bed of salad/rocket leaves has brought a few cabbage whites in 'sniffing around' on a daily basis. I have the bed covered in netting but I am growing a lot of brassicas like cabbages, broccoli, kohl Rabi & wondered when the cabbage whites go away/die off if at all? Or will everything have to be covered in netting?
Thanks xJane
I find they are most active the last week in July and the first couple of weeks of august. Though you cannot totally relax after that. It only takes one to wreak havoc. I will be checking the undersides of the leaves everyday and squishing.
They have just arrived in the last three days here. I used to think that nettle tea kept them away but I think they have sussed that out.
Thanks for the reply Digeroo, netting over everything it is then! Are the eggs easily visible on the under sides of leaves? xJane
They are clearly visible if you spot them but so easy to miss a patch. They lay hundreds of eggs and seconds after hatching start munching their way through their host plant.
They can even put their behinds through netting and lay their eggs.
If you google cabbage white butterfly eggs there are lots of pics but remember the actuals are quite small.
There is another type which lay eggs singly and produce single green caterpillers which hide down the centres of the leaves, these are extremely difficult to spot, even when you can see the damage you cannot find the blighters.
Google brimstone butterfly caterpillar for pics of that.
Yet to see one this year. Saw a beatiful row of Purple Buddelihas and not one butterfly, my cabbages are staying covered for a while yet though.
It is still worth keeping a check under the nets. One of my plot neighbours though all was sorted and the devastation was huge. Not sure how they got in. Damaged was worse than those unnetted.
Cabbage white butterflies are currently active here in Suffolk. Seems they've not liked the damp first half of the year as I've seen very few of them so far and I've not noticed any caterpillar damage anywhere yet.
Oh dear after looking up more info on the pesky things I am realising that growing brassicas in my tiny mini plot of raised beds that are all next to one another in a line was not a good idea ::)
I will net as best I can & hope they don't stick too many of their bottoms through the nets :o
Next year I will try different veg family crops for my winter growing - any suggestions for veg that cabbage whites don't like to lay eggs on????
xJane
they seem to go away about october. I have brassica leaves touching netting and I just know that they will get egged, I think in some ways they are worse than slugs and snails.
I have managed to keep them at bay in the past by checking the undersides of all the brassica leaves every couple of days and then squishing. If you miss some then it is caterpillar squishing which is much more messy. I find they particularly like certain plants so check those more thoroughly, and they like PSB and less likely to choose sprouts.
http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species.php?species=brassicae
looks like it is end of september for the large white and a week later for the small white. Depends on the weather of course. I would love to take my netting off then but that will only be tempting the pigeons that surround us.
You can borrow my cat, he is on white butterfly alert in my back garden where I planted a few left over PSB plants (well I think that is what they are, and were doing fine), but he has yet to catch one yet, but does have a good try. I have sprayed with insect whatever, and will obviously wash well before eating when I find out exactly what they are, but the cabbage butterflies love them and have told all their friends.
This is the first year in my almost 30 years of growing vegetables to have caterpillars on both my swede and radish leaves!! Just had a massive spray this morning as a lote of the caterpillars were not the usual green ones but brown, especially those on the swede. Bah what a year, deluges of rain, slug explosion, pidgeons, chafer grubs attacking my brassicas in my raised beds and a back problem. Veru nearly threw the towel in but thought NO I'm not giving in. Have a lorry load of manure coming Saturday and then start double digging and get everything ready for next year.
I have been plagued by catterpillars this year. My purple sprouting broccoli were going great guns. They were five feet high and I was keeping on top of the cabbage whites, until I went on holiday for a couple of weeks in August. When I got back the brassicas were dessimated. I pulled the broccoli and cauliflower out which had bolted too, but then the caterpillars turned on my swiss chard and the spinnach. I pulled them all out today and the pak choi seedlings that were netted. I am trying to grow chinese brassicas now (radish leaf, senposai and mustard leaf) which are heavily netted. The brown catterpillars seem to get through the netting though. Not sure what they are, but I'm thinking about giving brassicas a miss next year.
I have taken the butterfly net off my dwarf curly kale in my raised bed at home and will soon de-net the big balled cabbages on the allotment. They need some breathing space and I need to be able to get at them. Towards the end of the month perhaps. The hearts are very tight and nothing much will damage them now. The young cabbages will remain netted throughout because of pigeons
We seem to have more cabbage white around than in August. Still having to be very vigilant here.
Theres still lots of caterpillars on my nasturtiums, which I grew to lure the butterflies away. I would leave your netting on until the first frosts.
Quote from: sorrel on September 17, 2012, 07:06:22
Theres still lots of caterpillars on my nasturtiums, which I grew to lure the butterflies away. I would leave your netting on until the first frosts.
That sounds an interesting idea :happy7:
Does growing nasturiums keep all the cabbage whites off, or most, or just a few?
And do you grow them right next to the cabbages, or if not how far away?
All of my brassicas are now skeletal-but don`t pull them out-they will grow back
From personal experience leave the nets on till you need your veg. What the white fly leave the birds will demolish given half a chance. :BangHead: :BangHead:
yes, am taking it all on board. It would be dreadful to lose good cabbages just by taking the nets off. They are staying on and I will remove one good ballhead at a time