Caterpillars!

[Wombat]

Caterpillars........................Aaaaargh!

I don't know whether it is the conditions this year or my late planting but I have had several new types of caterpillar this year.

A beautifil green one about two inches long - a great high protein snack for the chooks, but eating the living daylights out of my corn!

And my brassicas are being raped by a whole stack of catepillars that secrete a web. They make cabbage moth grubs look like old friends - these go for ths bits you eat not just the leaves, and take everything! Next planting will have to have netting I think.

So far I am coping by picking off the green ones, applying derris on the brassicas..................and crying a lot!

I think I need to do some research!

Nev

[ina]

Poor Nev! The green one sounds very attractive, though... And maybe you can find a use for the web the others produce?

[Wombat]

Thanks Ina!

I have donea bit of research and it seems that I have been using the terms cabbage moth and cabbage white butterfly a bit loosely! The white butterlfy is the ones with the green caterpillar on brassicas (not corn) and the webby ones are cabbage MOTH - You learn something every day. Both are susceptible to Bacillus Thurigensis - so I'll kill the buggers yet!

Mwa ha ha ha! and other Fiendish sound effects........

Nev

[ina]

Our cabbage whites have different caterpillars - maybe it's a European sub-variety? Sort of yellow-black patterned. I hate them, too; they destroyed a whole wall of nasturtiums one year.

One good thing after this prolonged winter weather, hopefully it will have reduced the numbers of pests a bit. Have you used BT before? A friend of mine will be trying out anti-slug nematodes this year (my birthday present for her ); I wonder how they'll work in a not-inclosed area, i.e. a large garden rather than a polytunnel.

[Wombat]

G'DAy Ina,

No, this will be my first time. I usually favour the impact method or the chookfood method, but these buggers are getting away on me!

Nev

[ina]

Well, looking forward to hearing about your results! Not had too many problems here so far, and I will use some fleece this year... (Being in a cold climate must have at least this advantage!)

[hedgewizard]

The trouble with applying nematodes is that if slug numbers drop drastically the predators move out. I'd use them if I had a really serious slug population, but it'd be better to try to encourage predators into the garden. I have a family of slow worms in the back garden, and there are no slugs to speak of there any more. Now why won't the shiny gits move into the back garden where the veg are?

[Goodlife1970]

Ah! So thats why I dont seem to have a slug problem then,slowworms! First time i saw one I ran around the garden,babe in arms,screaming for the OH (who wasnt in!) Bit more learned now,just have to stop the girls trying to bring grassnakes into the house! Had no idea that slow worms ate slugs,bless them!

[ina]

And what, if you please, are slow worms? Come to think of it, I haven't seen any fast worms in my garden yet...

I think my friend won't have any problems with predators moving out. Her garden is much larger than the nematodes will cover, so if she only treats the areas that are really bad, there'll still be plenty of slugs left around that bit. There's grass and barley fields next door, too, and they harbour slugs as well. So hopefully it'll help her keeping a lid on the problem this year. But we'll see - it is a bit of an experiment (after all, she's a scientist ).

[glenniedragon]

slow worms are legless lizards,

legless as in 'no legs' rather than drunk!

kind thoughts
Deb

[ina]

Thought they might have had a go at the slug traps!!!

Thanks for that info. Haven't seen any around here yet. But I do still intend to dig out that pond - why, oh why, did my predecessor have to fill that in! And then I'll hopefully get some frogs - I do have a supply of frog spawn, whenever I get that pond done.

[Shirley]

digging out a pond sounds like a job that needs some help - we could come over and help and bring beer/wine too - don't you think that such jobs are easier with the incentive of a barbie, a few drinks, and good friends doing the work together.

[hedgewizard]

You're unlikely to see slow worms so far North - SW wales is probably near the top of their range.

[Ranter]

The caterpillars of the cabbage moth are my big problem - although mostly on decorative plants. I try to leave a few to grow to maturity (I kinda like moths) but most get squashed (I don't like em that much).

My boyfriend bought me a head-torch so that I roam the garden at nights despatching slugs, snails & caterpillars with both hands.

[ina]

digging out a pond sounds like a job that needs some help - we could come over and help and bring beer/wine too - don't you think that such jobs are easier with the incentive of a barbie, a few drinks, and good friends doing the work together.

Hey, that's an idea! One sausage and beer for each wheelbarrow load of earth moved...

Shall we have our SSish meeting in NE Scotland after all?

I did try and make a start on it some months ago. Thought if I do two buckets full every day, eventually I'll get there. But then my back intervened... Had a lot of "back breaking" work at that time, too, so it was all just too much. My back is long been fine again, but then the snow arrived - and so there's one excuse after the other!