Voracious Cabbage Eaters

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gcorrier Lenoir City, TN May 28, 2012

Hi all,
I have some little green monsters about 1 to 2 inches long reducing my cabbage plants to mere little green balls of refuse. I have tried the sevin dust powder and they seem to enjoy this. I have a raised bed which also contains a variety of tomatos in well amended soil. Anyone have any ideas on how to rid my cabbage of these little monsters?

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Farmerdill Augusta, GA(Zone 8a) May 28, 2012

DIPEL

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gardadore Saylorsburg, PA(Zone 6a) May 28, 2012

I sympathize with your worm problem. My husband refused to eat my home grown broccoli and cabbage with the worms even though I rinsed them and soaked them in salt water. So I needed a solution besides spraying. Gardener's Supply came to the rescue!

Last summer I bought their 6' x 3' x 4' high pop up tent for my broccoli and Brussel Sprouts. I never had one worm, just slugs, which were easily dispensed with by using Sluggo. The new tall ones offered this year are bigger: 4' x 4' x 4' or 4' x 8 'x4' high. They also offer low ones. I used them free standing as opposed to putting them over a raised bed but found I had to reinforce the corners with extra bamboo stakes for stability. http://www.gardeners.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Gardeners-Site/default/Search-Show?q=pop-up

The other cheaper method is to use hoops covered with bug netting such as they show here: http://www.gardeners.com/Super-Hoops/39-392RS,default,pd.html?start=12&cgid=VegetableGardening

In my opinion it has definitely been worth the investment since the broccoli is very happy and this year I dropped the Brussel Sprouts and planted cauliflower. In a few days I will add some Partenocarpic Zucchini (Partenon) since I want to avoid the borers and squash bugs and these don't need to be fertilizes by bees. That will be an experiment!

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urbanveggies412 Pittsburgh, PA(Zone 6a) May 30, 2012

Tell your husband to suck it up. Fresh homegrown broccoli is one of the best vegetables. The salt water kills the cabbage worms. Even if there was still a tiny one in the broccoli, it would get killed during boiling and more than likely would just end up in the bottom of the pan. :)

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gardadore Saylorsburg, PA(Zone 6a) May 30, 2012

While you are correct that the worms get killed during the salt water soaking I was also tired of picking them off the veggies and they were doing so much damage to the cabbages that I was losing them. We tend to travel somewhat in the summer so I can't tend to them regularly. Now everyone is happy!! LOL

This message was edited Jun 4, 2012 3:12 PM

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nancynursez637 Madras, OR Jun 03, 2012

You can pick them off by hand, and destroy them. You can put a flat pan of clean water near them to attract wasps, who will in turn eat them. You can put a woven netting over the plants if your row is not too long, as it is the white moth/butterfly you see flicking around the garden that lays the eggs for these monsters.

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