It’s good to know where the caterpillars come from, when they arrive and how to deal with them in a timely manner!
This Wrigglers #cartoon looks at the migration of Cabbage White Butterflies. Basically the butterflies fly off somewhere warmer for our winter, to reproduce and their offspring to fly back again next spring. They’re attracted by the mustard-oils in the cabbage family #plants. It acts as a deterrent to predators, making the caterpillars taste bad.
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Companion planting
Planting Nasturtiums with your cabbages, together with netting the cabbages, could really make the difference between a good harvest and a non-existent one.
Grow veg
has an article on this: https://www.growveg.co.uk/guides/confuse-pests-with-companion-planting/
Gardener’s World
Companion planting combinations
find out how to combine vegetables and flowers on the veg plot, controlling pests and encouraging healthy plants.
Green life soil
has a good list for companion planting, suggestions on what to plant and what not to plant next to your prize vegetables:
Netting
The last egg laying of the season occurs in late August to September time depending on weather conditions. The eggs are laid on both the under and upper surface of leaves. The caterpillars emerge after a short time and begin to feed on the leaves of plants, typically members of the cabbage family.
Fine nets with a 4-7mm mesh give good protection against cabbage white butterflies as long as the foliage does not touch the net, and of course bird and mammal pests.
Fine mesh: 0.8mm Good for very small pests such as soil pests such as cabbage root fly too. Birds and mammal pests are also excluded.
Here are a couple of links for further reading,
Garden focussed article on how to treat Cabaage White Butterfly
An English Garden article on how to outwit the Cabbage White
#cabbagewhite #gardenpests #cabbages #brassicas #butterflies #butterfly #nature #macro #insects #naturephotography #butterfliesofinstagram #insect #art #flowers #wildlife
#nastursiums #companionplanting
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