"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow writes:
Om were you thinking of the cabbage grubs that are laid by the white
cabbage butterflies? If you were then this does work. Make up some
fake cabbage butterflies (I use the white opaque plastic form old milk
cartons) and mark then so that they have the black markings of real
cabbage butterflies with a felt tip pen and then put them on bamboo
stakes and put them around your cabbages. The cabbage butterfly is
territorial and will go elsewhere if it thinks that that cabbage is
already taken by another cabbage butterfly.

Why bother making plastic b'flies? Just catch some real ones, add a dab of
wood glue and fix them to the end of sticks that you can move around your
plants as needed! That way you reduce the population of moths into the
bargain! But I admit the real ones are not as rain resistant as the plastic
replicas.

I think you are right about them being territorial. I recall many a time
seeing a white moth lazily bobbing around my father's cabbage patch until
it neared another when one would zoom into the path of the first until they
seemed to momentarily collide and then one would leap away to put some
distance between them. At the time I assumed I was witnessing an attempt at
romance, and subsequent rebuff, but now that you have pointed it out, this
behaviour could have been a moth protecting its patch.

For Australian readers: Noisy miner and Indian mynah birds just love
catching moths on the wing. Currawongs are good at it, too.
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)

"John Savage" wrote in
"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow writes:
Om were you thinking of the cabbage grubs that are laid by the
white
cabbage butterflies? If you were then this does work. Make up
some
fake cabbage butterflies (I use the white opaque plastic form old
milk
cartons) and mark then so that they have the black markings of real
cabbage butterflies with a felt tip pen and then put them on bamboo
stakes and put them around your cabbages. The cabbage butterfly is
territorial and will go elsewhere if it thinks that that cabbage is
already taken by another cabbage butterfly.

Why bother making plastic b'flies? Just catch some real ones, add a
dab of
wood glue and fix them to the end of sticks that you can move around
your
plants as needed! That way you reduce the population of moths into
the
bargain! But I admit the real ones are not as rain resistant as the
plastic
replicas.

I'll bet you took the wings off flies as a youngster :-)))

It took about 3 minutes to cut up a milk carton and put a few spots of
texta on. It would have taken much more time for me to try to catch
the blighters.

For Australian readers: Noisy miner and Indian mynah birds just love
catching moths on the wing. Currawongs are good at it, too.

But do you have any ideas for getting rid of currawongs? The mongrel
*******s eat smaller birds and I need my wrens for aphid patrols.
BTW, the aphids have arrived and still not a sign of any ants anywhere
near the roses but the wrens are very active.

"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow writes:
But do you have any ideas for getting rid of currawongs? The mongrel
*******s eat smaller birds and I need my wrens for aphid patrols.

It's a good question, but I can't think of any legal methods for getting
rid of currawongs. Being native, they would be a protected species, too.
I expect the best you can do is to eliminate (or net) fruiting trees and
berry bushes, to feed your cats/dogs indoors so there is no leftover food
for the currawongs, the same goes if you put out food for birds, and to
put netting over all water sources so only the small birds can get in to
drink. Water sources include dripping garden taps, hoses, and even roof
gutters that are so warped they store water after showers or heavy dew.
Lawn sprinklers provide birds with drinking water, but as most of Oz is
in drought, I suppose you are not using lawn sprinklers, but if you are
maybe you could limit their use to nighttime?

Then when you've attended to all those measures on your property, do the
same at your neighbours' places for a mile around!

Currawongs typically nest high up in leafy trees, so your getting to their
nest is out of the question, usually.
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)