But who devours cabbages in the vegetable patch? Do you know the Cabbage White?
Cabbage White, a butterfly with voracious caterpillars
Pieris brassicae, by its gentle Latin name, is a damned butterfly terribly common, rather dull cream-white. Its particularity, as you will have guessed, is to attack, at the caterpillar stage, cabbages and all crucifers or brassicas... including white mustard, very useful in the vegetable patch as a green manure.
Needless to say, although I like butterflies a lot, the Cabbage White gives me the creeps without even touching its caterpillars. Because the damage can be significant. It’s simple: in case of a massive invasion, you go to bed with nice, promising cabbages in the vegetable patch and, the next morning, all you have left are pitiful skeletons made up of the ribs. I am barely exaggerating.
How to prevent and control Cabbage White?
Knowing that Cabbage White is present throughout France (and has been since the Paleolithic, Wikipedia tells us ;-)) and that it is active from late spring to October, you will agree that control is legitimate.
As with Carrot Fly and Leek Leaf Miner, the best prevention, short of waving a butterfly net, is to install, tightly, insect netting.
If that precaution has not been taken, here is how to proceed, step by step, to limit damage:
- Inspect your cabbages and carefully check the underside of leaves (that’s the basics!),
- Destroy the eggs systematically and without mercy,
- Carry out a spray of "Bt" or Bacillus thuringiensis (Bacillus thuringiensis): this bacterium, once ingested by the caterpillar, causes its death. It’s a biopesticide that can, of course, be used in organic farming. This treatment must be applied early to be effective.
- Pick caterpillars by hand (a pair of kitchen tongs is a tool of choice for those put off by touching caterpillars).
Finally, as always, remember to observe crop rotations in the vegetable patch, practise companion planting and use aromatic plants to confuse these unwanted visitors.
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