I got a call a few years ago from a reader who also happens to be a relative. After the call I went over to her home and checked out the problem. From what I could see much of her cabbage and cabbage-relative crops had little holes in them.
She brought over the culprit doing the damage. What I saw was a 1- to 2 inch-long green caterpillar that looked like it was a member of the butterfly family. The reason I think the insect was a butterfly was that it developed a little chrysalis; first, because they wanted to eat the cabbages, they wanted to control the insect organically.
As I was looking at the insectsthey were in the process of picking these freeloaders off their cabbage leaves, which has been their primary approach to controlling thelittle guys.From what I could see they were Cabbage Whites or Pieris rapae.
Integrated pest management is an effective and environmentally sensitive approach to pest management that relies on a combination of common-sense practices. TheIPM practices consider the insect life cycle and the way they interact in their environments. If you have not thought about yellow sticky scout traps and garden journals, you need to do thisin order to approach an organic solution to pests.
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A four-step approach to controlling insects
IPM is not a single solution to control pests, but rather a four-step approach to controlling insects.
- First, set an action step threshold where the damage that the insect has done to your crop has reached a critical level.
- Second would be to monitor the number of pests you see in your crop.
- Prevent as much damage as you can frompests on your crop.
- Use as many organic solutions as you can and minimize the chemicals used in your garden.
These ideas will be discussed in future columns.
That year it had been seriously tough to keep a garden with the insect attacks and drought and flooding. Over the years I have done a number of things to control insects. I have used Sevin, which I’m trying to minimize the use of, looked hard through the plants to pull them off and kill them—and one other thing to kind of confuse them.
What I did was ground up maybe 10 to 15 pieces of wormwood or Artemesia or dusty miller in an old blender with a few cups of water. Garlic oil can also be sprayed over the plants to confuse the insects. I mixed maybe a tablespoon of Joy dish soap in the water and gently mixed the concoction.
The butterflies for me, I guess, thought the cabbages were wormwood plants. The big trial was spraying under the leaves where the insects really liked to feed, which is one of the tricks to solve the problem. These insects tend to follow the veins of the plant but eat through the center of a cabbage head.
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My problem is you have to be very thorough as you spraybecause the insects can be very good at surviving the spray if you don’t get the plant entirely. Growingaromatic plants amongst the cabbage-type plants— like hyssop, thyme, wormwood, celery, dill, sageand onions — will all help to confuse these insects.
BT(Bacillus thuringiensis) or Dipel, if you spray each week, can also control these insects. Eggs that are sprayed are the easiest controlled with BT;Dipel turns the blood milky. I came across this solution a number of years ago, but it solves the problem a little easier. This insect is a nocturnal flyer.
If you were to lay a fabric row cover over the cabbages in the evening you may also find that you have controlled the insect. The cover prevents them from laying eggs on the plants and makes them go to another location. Old nylon stockings over the plant can also control the insects—again because they can’t get to the plant.
More natural solutions for controlling insects
There is a small wasp by the name of Apantales glomeratuswhich lays its eggs in the caterpillar. These tiny wasps develop inside devouring the caterpillar. One other biological control is a virus which attacks the caterpillar, turning them gray and causingthem to die.
One of the other natural solutions to controlling these insects over time is to provide a natural habitat for birds that would feed on these insects. You will need nest trees, alternate food sources, a water sourceand trees for cover near the garden. This will control the insects over time. If you attract northern mockingbird, red-wing blackbird, American robin or northern cardinal, they will assist you in taking care of these butterflies.
One last idea to confuse these tiny monsters is to break up some egg shells that can also mislead the insect into thinking that some other relatives have landed on their target and shouldn’t bother in laying their eggs on your plants.
Hope you have a nice stroll through your garden this week. If you have any problems in your garden, email me at ericlarson546@yahoo.com. I will start my blog soon and you can see the post at ohiohealthyfoodcooperative.org. Thank you for your questions and for allowing me a chance to help you.
Eric Larson of Jeromesville is a veteran landscaper and gardening enthusiast and a founding board member of the Ohio Chapter of Association of Professional Landscape Designers. He encourages your gardening questions by sending an email to ewlarson546@yahoo.com.
