Brassica trouble

[wildinthecountry]

All my lovely kale and Brussels are covered in caterpillars and holes despite my best efforts with fine netting. Does anyone know if there's anything I can do now or shall I just dig them all up? Same happened with my cabbages and cauliflowers - slugs and cabbage whites. It's that despondent time of year! Lots of potatoes all slushy, must be the dreaded blight? Hubby trying to cheer me up by saying they could be the seed potatoes. At least my earlies were good, and courgettes still producing like triffids. Help!

[Pinfold Plotter]

My kale is also nothing but stalks with a few young leaves at the mo. But it will come through if you give it a follicular feed, like comfrey tea. My sprouts were in the same condition last year and with a few feeds, produced some smallish but delicious buttons for Christmas dinner. The caterpillars will soon die with the frosts, so you won't need to worry about them any more. No advice for the potatoes though, sorry.

[veggiechicken]

I have lacy brassicas too Am tempted to pull up the cabbages as I can't see how they can do much without a heart but the kales, broccoli and sprouts are in with a chance!!
Your slushy potatoes could be the remains of the seed potatoes - depends on whether you had some good potatoes from the same place each time - if that makes sense

[kathyd]

Leafy stuff does seem to re-grow once you've got rid of the nasties, although I've not had the same success with my sprouts - must be doing something wrong there! I've pulled most of them up, got tired of them taking up all the space. I only got 2 of my cabbages before they got decimated by slugs and caterpillars, and the caulis, well let's not go there . Still, on the bright side... it seems to be a different pest every year, so next year might be Year of the Brassicas and we'll all be bemoaning the loss of our peas / sweetcorn / salads / carrots.....

[Bill HH]

I am thinking that its a shame we dont eat slugs and caterpillars etc, then every year would be a bonanza.

[Bren In Pots]

Don't dig up you brassicas unless you need that ground because like others have said they should soon spring back to life with new greenery.

[roitelet]

Be vigilant. I know it takes time but search for the nasties and SQUASH them. Very satisfying!!!!! The cabages etc. will put on new growth.

[mrswadders]

try not to be too despondent, mine too are very pretty lace doilies but are showing signs of recovering, I had some plants waiting to go in once there was room(they're pretty big)spring cabbage which I thought were doomed but when I looked at the weekend they've put loads of new growth so might be lucky. As for your potatoes I had the same problem,my first time growing in bags, didn't do very well, will try again next year think I over-watered them. Hey you win some you lose some that's all part of G.Y.O

[Aberdeenplotter]

It is a real pain having to put up with slugs at this time of year but spending a bit of money on nematodes earlier in the season could have reduced the slug population greatly. It's getting late in the season for using nematodes this time around but it is definitely on my to do list for next year. Costs a few quid but well worth the outlay. The cabbage white butterflies caused me a bit of head scratching earlier in the year as I had my brassicas netted yet caterpillars were shredding the foliage. I removed the netting and replaced it with environmesh after picking off the livestock and squashing visible eggs and that sorted the problem but later I had more damage problems with bright green caterpillars which are incredibly difficult to spot.

Anyone any idea what these caterpillars are the larvae of?

[Aberdeenplotter]

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...-damage-2.html

found that thread when gurgling

[veggiechicken]

I had both large and small caterpillars on mine. The large ones were easy to spot but the tiddlers are sneaky, disguising themselves as leaf veins - the little barsticcas

[daviddevantnhisspiritwife]

Yes those green ones are very sneaky, however, once you learn this tactic they become easier to spot. They all seem to do it (when their stomachs are full), they line themselves vertically on the midrib of the leaf. So, if you know where to look, you can decimate large numbers of them fairly swiftly.

[Dorothy rouse]

Just been to plot, the pigeons have been feasting on my few sprouts, spring cabbage and psb, silly me,I took the netting off,2 days ago,thinking danger was over !

Still have some kale,chard and spinach, don't think they like that! Famous last words !

DottyR


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[rustylady]

Get the netting back on Dotty. Pigeons will eat any brassicas.

[Dorothy rouse]

Get the netting back on Dotty. Pigeons will eat any brassicas.

Think they were watching me!

DottyR


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