GardenBanter.co.uk - Kitchen Concoctions for the Nibbling Bugs

On Thu, 02 Sep 2004 07:59:42 -0400, wrote:

cabbage worms on broccoli

(Quoted section from: http://www.gardensalive.com/)

(BTW, I have no connection whatever with GardensAlive.com,
except that of a customer. These products are both sold by
many, many other online companies and possibly in large
garden centers too.)

Have you tried their new spinosad product? Bull's Eye, I think they
call it. I used the Monterey Garden's version of it this year to
help control the spit! thrips on my tomatoes. I alternated
the spinosad with Neem early in the season, then used just
Neem.

And I *did* have better luck with tomatoes this year. Almost
all of them are gone by now, though. The tomato spotted wilt
virus carried by the spit! thrips got them in the end. I have
one Andrew Raghart Red that is still struggling, and one Brandywine
that's still spitting out tomatoes. I pulled a few very small green
tomatoes off the last of the Stupice vines and performed a mercy
killing on what was left. And I have one yellow current tomato
buried in the lemon basil that ran amok still popping out tomatoes.

At the peak of the season, back in July, I was picking baskets
of tomatoes almost every day, so I still consider this season a
success. This is the first season in about 4 or 5 that I had a decent
tomato crop.

I routinely use floating row cover or nylon net on brassicas
(cabbage-family crops) as they are all terribly susceptible
to cabbage worm damage otherwise.

You know, I see cabbage butterflies all the time, but I've grown
brussel sprouts for years and never had a problem with them.
The one year I tried broccoli, though, they munched everything I had!

Good thing I like brussel sprouts.

Penelope