CABBAGE WHITE BUTTERFLY

 

Cabbage white butterflies are pests because they hide their yellow eggs on the underside of leaves and when the larvae hatch, tiny undetected leaf-colored green worms run amok in your vegetable garden. Before you know it, your broccoli, cabbage, kale and cauliflower (brassica) have been eaten by hard-to-see caterpillars that cling to the underside stems. If you see any, pluck them off the leaves and place them in your compost. Watch out, if you see one, there are usually more!

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How do I keep cabbage white butterflies away?

 

Plant your vegetables all over your bed and not in rows in order to confuse insects. Add companion plants such as thyme, marigolds and tomatoes to repel the moths which do not like their scents.

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Help my brassica leaves are disappearing…fast!

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If your plant is in the cabbage, broccoli cauliflower family, it could be a cabbage worm. Search for poop and pick off the soft, velvety caterpillars camouflaged on the underside of stems. Relocate those to the compost, if you can, or away from their preferred food. Check every leaf. And come back an hour later and check again.

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Factoids

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The butterfly's life cycle begins with an egg and passes through five larval stages known as instars, transitioning to a pupa and metamorphosing to an adult butterfly. The whole process takes thirty days