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| Vegging Out Hints, tips and queries about your vegetable crop |
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| Bird netting works well, I can't see any other way to stop them.
__________________ Do what we do - Ozgrow dot com. My Blog http://junctionvillage.blogspot.com/ Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. - Mark Twain |
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| everyday, even after netting i need to go and pick the pillars off!!!! today i am now trying to use salt water as well as picking & netting, they are getting on my nerves now lol!
__________________ Gardening - A labour of love that begins with daybreak and ends with backache! http://clarkiesveggieblog.blogspot.com/ |
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| The butterflies are attracted to a pheromone or a smell in the brassicas. You'd have to somehow block that smell, to put the butterflies off ... they can smell them a mile off. I've got ruddy PillarCats underneath my netting ... every plant had a dozen of them, munching away. I found the best way to pick them off was to shake the leaves quite vigorously, and the caterpillars drop to the soil - free treats for the birdies
__________________ ~ "I would rather do a good hours work weeding than write two pages of my best; nothing is so interesting as weeding" ~ Robert Louis Stevenson I promise not to mention the rather excellent Search function again. Feel free to slap me if I do |
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| The ones in my front garden, I pick them off and fling them into the road. Elsewhere, they are picked off into a pot of water and poured into the compost bin once they stop wriggling. Would something really smelly (grow marigolds, spray with garlic/chilli) mask the brassica scent do you reckon? I'm picking caterpillars off daily and it's no easy task!
__________________ Warning: I have a dangerous tendency to act like I know what I'm talking about. |
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| I harvested some broccoli today, picked off all the caterpillars I could see, washed the heads, cut them into florets, picked off a few more caterpillars, washed them again, cooked them, rinsed them - and one still managed to make it onto my plate! Argh. It wasn't moving much by then though... (PS In fairness there could have been more than one in the plate, it's just that there was only one that I managed to identify as Not Broccoli before I ate it! )(PPS For the pedantic among us, actually all of it was Not Broccoli - it was all in fact calabrese. Ho hum.)
__________________ Warning: I have a dangerous tendency to act like I know what I'm talking about. |
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| I have a water butt set aside from the others. I put my rhubarb leaves into it when I cut a few sticks. Put the lid back on the butt and leave for a couple of days. STAND WELL BACK WHEN YOU REMOVE THE LID...the smell is rancid!!!. Give the goo a good stir and put some in an old watering can and use on brassicas. It isn't 100% effective but it sure does cut down on butterflies appreciably. Don't spill any on your clothes or HID will not be best pleased!!! It may be worthwhile keeping a few clothes pegs near the butt to put on your nose whilst using the goo!!!
__________________ If someone approaching you does not have a smile on their face...give them one of yours. |
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| This is one that I hadn't heard before: put some eggshells on sticks among your brassicas. Apparently the Cabbage White thinks it is a competing butterfly, and stays away. Top Veg Blog Archive Cabbage White Butterflies
__________________ ~ "I would rather do a good hours work weeding than write two pages of my best; nothing is so interesting as weeding" ~ Robert Louis Stevenson I promise not to mention the rather excellent Search function again. Feel free to slap me if I do |
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| Also try planting nasturtiums near your brassicas as a sacrificial plant. The cabbage white will lay eggs on that, and so you can compost the whole lot, caterpillars and all.
__________________ ~ "I would rather do a good hours work weeding than write two pages of my best; nothing is so interesting as weeding" ~ Robert Louis Stevenson I promise not to mention the rather excellent Search function again. Feel free to slap me if I do |
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| this one is gross: "pick off all the caterpillars you can, and put 'em in a blender with some water, and spray 'em back onto the cabbages. You will not get any more eggs laid there. Of course..remember to wash your cabbages well before eating"
__________________ ~ "I would rather do a good hours work weeding than write two pages of my best; nothing is so interesting as weeding" ~ Robert Louis Stevenson I promise not to mention the rather excellent Search function again. Feel free to slap me if I do |
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that really is gross!!! I've been spraying mine with garlic solution. There's a few caterpillars, but not as many as some of you seem to be getting. When I do find a leaf with eggs on, I break it off and chuck it to the chooks.
__________________ My girls found their way into my heart and now they nest there |
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| i have been shaking, picking and squishing caterpillars everyday now, hoping that everything will come under control!
__________________ Gardening - A labour of love that begins with daybreak and ends with backache! http://clarkiesveggieblog.blogspot.com/ |
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| If the butterflies are attracted to the smell what do people think of hanging mothballs near the planted veg. My OH is going to build me an enclosure at the weekend ready for me planting out some (boo hoo shop bought stuff as mine got slugged!!) and I just wondered whether the smell of the mothballs would put off the butterflies as it does the cats and squirrels. Going to hang them in those little mesh bags that the fatballs come in. Think I'll give it a go anyway and see what happens and if it works I'll let you know. |
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I know, even plain water can kill you, but I still wouldn't want to hang a poison among my veg.
__________________ ~ "I would rather do a good hours work weeding than write two pages of my best; nothing is so interesting as weeding" ~ Robert Louis Stevenson I promise not to mention the rather excellent Search function again. Feel free to slap me if I do |
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| Thanks for the tip about covering them - I hadn't thought of netting ( I know - I don't feel clever admitting that). I've tried several times the garlic/washup liquid/water mix and still the leaves are all eaten away - I guess the rain washes the mixture off before it dries in and that makes it totally ineffective. I'll try covering them in a last-ditch attempt to get some to grow on - cheers, Demeter, I hope you enjoyed yours, never mind what stowaways managed to get in along with them. |
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