Cabbages & The ‘Cat’ In ‘Caterpillar’

I had to do a rescue mission late last evening on the cabbages. My prized Kilaxy cabbages were under attack by the above monster munchers. I *think* they’re cabbage white caterpillars. I can certainly see the ‘cat’ in caterpillar.
Whilst I expect and don’t really mind the cabbage whites’ spawn feasting on a couple of my cabbages, I’m not happy for them to go the whole hog. After all obviously I do want a few left for myself. So I spent a while picking of laced leaves, removing the furry fiends (and a few slugs to boot) and taking them far, far away with the defunct half-decimated cabbage leaves. As much as people probably roll their eyes, I still try and stick with my no-kill policy.
So the remaining cabbages are relatively pest free. I let Maureen our hen have a run around under the tent cloche for good measure, she’s got a keen eye and would soon draw my attention by making excited ‘o! boh! bop bop!” sort of noises. Hopefully I’ll still have a few to enjoy in the next few weeks, the hearts are coming along nicely and I’m smacking my lips together in anticipation.
August 19th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Do hens eat caterpillars?
August 21st, 2008 at 8:50 am
Apparently eggshells on sticks placed around the cabbages can trick the butterflies into thinking that there is already a butterfly there. I’m frantically saving eggshells to place round my munched-up kale!
August 21st, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Interesting idea about the eggshells…we have plenty of those! Soilman - I don’t know is the honest answer, they definitely goes for small slugs but I wouldn’t put it past Maureen the Machine to have a go. She certainly goes potty over grubs.