Cauliflower Demise

[desertgirl]

I have nutured, and successfully grown a cheddar cauliflower from seed. It was robust, and had just set it's first "fruit", when I walked out the other morning and found it had been completely destroyed by little lime green, velvet-y catipillars (with what looks like spun silk under their dastardly little bodies). I think they have killed my poor plant.

I tried DE, but I think they are too far gone (plus, I still found some on there this morning).I do not want to use chemicals, but what might I try in the fall when I try it again?

 

[journey11]

Fabric row covers--start to finish. That's what I'll be doing. (Although I am not sure of their life cycle and prevalence for fall.) ~HATE~ having to hunt for and pick out those little green worms from broccoli that is the same shade of green. Such a waste of my valuable time. I can soak them in salt water, but where they make silk most of them, albeit dead, are still stuck up in there.

 

[desertgirl]

Grew mine in a raised SFG with row cover. Little buggers still got in.

 

[journey11]

Oh, that's a bummer! :/

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Hi desertgirl,

I read somewhere that you can slip an old thin nylon stockin or one leg from a pair of tights over the young flowering head as it forms & this will stretch as it grows; the caterpillars cant get to it then. Might be worth a try?

I use a special ultra-fine nylon mesh over hoops on my raised beds. But you have to make sure there is no way in for the butterflies that lay the eggs of those grreen caterpillars. I suspect you didn't cover early enough . I put mine over when I set out the little plants in the beds. My mesh also keeps my chickens & the wretched pigeons from pecking them to extinction.... ......so it has a threefold use & justifies the higher cost. I keep it on throughout the year & move it to another bed as I rotate the crops.


Better luck in the fall ....!! :happy_flower

:rose Hattie :rose

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not sure if that is the larva of the Cabbage Moth or Cabbage Looper. Of course, it might be something else. The Cabbage Moth is actually a white butterfly with two or three dark spots on its wings. If you see one of those in your garden, you have my permission to kill it. I do on a regular basis, getting two yesterday afternoon. The Cabbage Looper adult is a brown moth that works under the cover of darkness. Their caterpillars look a lot like inchworms.

I know you like to go organic. I'm not so well disciplined although I try to only spray when needed. I spray with Sevin when I see the caterpillar. This year, I sprayed once and saved my cabbage. I had to discard a few of the outer leaves, but no big deal. My broccoli was mature early enough after the spraying that it was not a big problem, just a few caterpillars. When I harvested the cauliflower, I found a few of the cocoons. With both the cauliflower and the broccoli, I cut the florets into very small pieces so I could be sure of finding all the cocoons, plus soaked them in salt water to make sure all live things were out.

I don't know if BT would work fast enough to save your plant. You might want to consider spraying it with permethrin. I don't think it is considered organic, but its chemistry is based on a natural insecticide in chrysanthemums. You might feel better about using that instead of Sevin.