can brassicaca's that have caterpillars on them be put in the compost heap
or do I need to get rid of them first.
Thanks for your help.

"Alan McKenzie" wrote in message
...
can brassicaca's that have caterpillars on them be put in the compost heap
or do I need to get rid of them first.
Thanks for your help.

You can just put them onto the compost heap, no need to worry about resident
caterpillars. More of a problem with composting brassicas can be the tough
woody stems, which can sometimes take a long while to rot down. Such stems
are best either put through a shredder or simply smashed - I use one of
those small hand axes and pulverise them on a old log first.
--
David
.... Email address on website http://www.avisoft.co.uk
.... Blog at http://dlts-french-adventures.blogspot.com/

Thanks for that.
"David (in Normandy)" wrote in
message ...
"Alan McKenzie" wrote in message
...
can brassicaca's that have caterpillars on them be put in the compost
heap or do I need to get rid of them first.
Thanks for your help.

You can just put them onto the compost heap, no need to worry about
resident caterpillars. More of a problem with composting brassicas can be
the tough woody stems, which can sometimes take a long while to rot down.
Such stems are best either put through a shredder or simply smashed - I
use one of those small hand axes and pulverise them on a old log first.
--
David
... Email address on website http://www.avisoft.co.uk
... Blog at http://dlts-french-adventures.blogspot.com/

"Alan McKenzie" wrote in message
...
Thanks for that.
"David (in Normandy)" wrote in
message ...
"Alan McKenzie" wrote in message
...
can brassicaca's that have caterpillars on them be put in the compost
heap or do I need to get rid of them first.
Thanks for your help.

You can just put them onto the compost heap, no need to worry about
resident caterpillars. More of a problem with composting brassicas can be
the tough woody stems, which can sometimes take a long while to rot down.
Such stems are best either put through a shredder or simply smashed - I
use one of those small hand axes and pulverise them on a old log first.
--
David
... Email address on website http://www.avisoft.co.uk
... Blog at http://dlts-french-adventures.blogspot.com/



Over 80% of large white caterpillars are taken over by a parasitic wasp
larvae so compost them as part if life's natural recycle.
Root fly maggots are not so common and my instinct is then to destroy
maggots and roots.
Regards
David T