Hi,

I have lots of white butterflies around my vegie patch, I've heard this is
bad news. Am I correct, and how do I go about repelling them without using
chemicals (if that's possible). My dog and cat can only catch so many of
them. Also what damage do they do. And lastly what sort of plants should i
grow to attract nice butterflies. I live in Adelaide.

Thanks Luke

There are two likely possibilities.

You are probably seeing cabbage white butterflies (Pieris rapae, if
you want to search for it on the web). This is a serious pest of
brassicas like cabbage, cauliflower, mustards (rocket etc), Asian
greens, broccoli. The grubs (caterpillars) are the pest part - they
can kill plants by eating so much of the leaves that the plants die.
They can be controlled by friendly or unfriendly means.
Friendly:
**putting a butterfly-proof shadecloth barrier over your brassicas
**learning to recognize eggs and caterpillars and picking them off by
hand (dropping them into a container of soapy water will kill them, or
squashing them)
**if your veggie patch is too big, spraying or sprinkling dipel when
you notice the grubs or can see significant leaf damage. Dipel is a
naturally derived pesticide that is specific to moths and butterflies
and relatively harmless to the beneficial insects in your garden.

Unfriendly:
cabbage dust, pyrethroids, etc

The other possibility for your white butterfly is that is may be a
seasonal migrant called a caper white, which is harmless to your
veggie patch (unless you are growing caper bushes).

Probably the easiest way for you to distinguish between them is to
either do a web search for more information or to look for the bright
green grubs on your brassicas.

HTH
Tish
remove nobody to email


On Tue, 19 Nov 2002 10:13:30 +1030, "Luke"
wrote:

Hi,

I have lots of white butterflies around my vegie patch, I've heard this is
bad news. Am I correct, and how do I go about repelling them without using
chemicals (if that's possible). My dog and cat can only catch so many of
them. Also what damage do they do. And lastly what sort of plants should i
grow to attract nice butterflies. I live in Adelaide.

Thanks Luke

I have been told you can use the little white tags from your bread and put
these around on the plants where they are visable the moths think it is
another moth and will not land.
I suppose it is something you can try.
Tanya
"Tish" wrote in message
...
There are two likely possibilities.

You are probably seeing cabbage white butterflies (Pieris rapae, if
you want to search for it on the web). This is a serious pest of
brassicas like cabbage, cauliflower, mustards (rocket etc), Asian
greens, broccoli. The grubs (caterpillars) are the pest part - they
can kill plants by eating so much of the leaves that the plants die.
They can be controlled by friendly or unfriendly means.
Friendly:
**putting a butterfly-proof shadecloth barrier over your brassicas
**learning to recognize eggs and caterpillars and picking them off by
hand (dropping them into a container of soapy water will kill them, or
squashing them)
**if your veggie patch is too big, spraying or sprinkling dipel when
you notice the grubs or can see significant leaf damage. Dipel is a
naturally derived pesticide that is specific to moths and butterflies
and relatively harmless to the beneficial insects in your garden.

Unfriendly:
cabbage dust, pyrethroids, etc

The other possibility for your white butterfly is that is may be a
seasonal migrant called a caper white, which is harmless to your
veggie patch (unless you are growing caper bushes).

Probably the easiest way for you to distinguish between them is to
either do a web search for more information or to look for the bright
green grubs on your brassicas.

HTH
Tish
remove nobody to email


On Tue, 19 Nov 2002 10:13:30 +1030, "Luke"
wrote:

Hi,

I have lots of white butterflies around my vegie patch, I've heard this
is
bad news. Am I correct, and how do I go about repelling them without
using
chemicals (if that's possible). My dog and cat can only catch so many of
them. Also what damage do they do. And lastly what sort of plants should
i
grow to attract nice butterflies. I live in Adelaide.

Thanks Luke