Cabbage white butterflies have found my brassicas hidden amongst the
marigolds and they are heaving with caterpillars. Are there any natural
remedies other than wearing rubber gloves and squishing them all?

On Thu, 02 Aug 2012 18:51:20 +0200, David in Normandy
wrote:

Cabbage white butterflies have found my brassicas hidden amongst the
marigolds and they are heaving with caterpillars. Are there any natural
remedies other than wearing rubber gloves and squishing them all?

Nemasys Codling Moth and Cabbage White Caterpillar Killer.

http://www.originaltouch.co.uk/acata...Nematodes.html

Can you get it over there?


Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East End of Swansea Bay where sometimes
it's raining and sometimes it's not.

On 08/02/2012 06:51 PM, David in Normandy wrote:
Cabbage white butterflies have found my brassicas hidden amongst the
marigolds and they are heaving with caterpillars. Are there any natural
remedies other than wearing rubber gloves and squishing them all?

IIRC pyrethrum is considered OK for organic gardening.

On 02/08/2012 17:51, David in Normandy wrote:
Cabbage white butterflies have found my brassicas hidden amongst the
marigolds and they are heaving with caterpillars. Are there any natural
remedies other than wearing rubber gloves and squishing them all?

Pyrethrum or rotenone both natural and fairly deadly to caterpilars.
Nicotine is deadly to humans as well as pests (and a vector for TMV).

Unless you intend to sell it are Organic(TM) produce I'd be inclined to
use one of the specific short lived knock down pesticides that is OK for
use on produce. Don't leave it too long or you will be left with bare
ribs of brassicas and no leaves at all. Happened to me last year while I
was away - 1 week and came back to skeletal plants.

Amazingly the purple sprouting broccoli came back to crop eventually but
the rest did not.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On Thu, 02 Aug 2012 18:51:20 +0200, David in Normandy
wrote:

Cabbage white butterflies have found my brassicas hidden amongst the
marigolds and they are heaving with caterpillars. Are there any natural
remedies other than wearing rubber gloves and squishing them all?


Bare hands?
Put them in a jam jar and drown them?
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

mogga wrote in
:

On Thu, 02 Aug 2012 18:51:20 +0200, David in Normandy
wrote:

Cabbage white butterflies have found my brassicas hidden amongst the
marigolds and they are heaving with caterpillars. Are there any natural
remedies other than wearing rubber gloves and squishing them all?


Bare hands?
Put them in a jam jar and drown them?

How can you drown a creature? A quick death is better, well I think so.

David in Normandy wrote:

Cabbage white butterflies have found my brassicas hidden amongst the
marigolds and they are heaving with caterpillars. Are there any natural
remedies

Are there forms of BT (Bacillus Thurigensis) available there? One trade
name in the U.S. is "Thuricide;" I don't know the British equivalents. It's
a biological control that kills cabbage worm caterpillars and a few
relatives.


--
Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic
Zone 5/4 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G

On Fri, 03 Aug 2012 10:10:55 GMT, Baz wrote:

mogga wrote in
:

On Thu, 02 Aug 2012 18:51:20 +0200, David in Normandy
wrote:

Cabbage white butterflies have found my brassicas hidden amongst the
marigolds and they are heaving with caterpillars. Are there any natural
remedies other than wearing rubber gloves and squishing them all?


Bare hands?
Put them in a jam jar and drown them?

How can you drown a creature? A quick death is better, well I think so.

It is but if pounding them to a pulp isn't an option ... what else is
there? Release them into the wild miles away from your cabbages.
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

On 03/08/2012 13:33, mogga wrote:
On Fri, 03 Aug 2012 10:10:55 GMT, Baz wrote:

mogga wrote in
:

On Thu, 02 Aug 2012 18:51:20 +0200, David in Normandy
wrote:

Cabbage white butterflies have found my brassicas hidden amongst the
marigolds and they are heaving with caterpillars. Are there any natural
remedies other than wearing rubber gloves and squishing them all?


Bare hands?
Put them in a jam jar and drown them?

How can you drown a creature? A quick death is better, well I think so.

It is but if pounding them to a pulp isn't an option ... what else is
there? Release them into the wild miles away from your cabbages.


I'll parcel them all up with a few cabbage leaves and mail them to Baz
to look after on his brassicas. ;-)

Looks like the only practical solution is to continue the yucky job of
squishing them or using a pyrethrum based spray as mentioned elsewhere.

David in Normandy wrote in
r:

On 03/08/2012 13:33, mogga wrote:
On Fri, 03 Aug 2012 10:10:55 GMT, Baz wrote:

mogga wrote in
:

On Thu, 02 Aug 2012 18:51:20 +0200, David in Normandy
wrote:

Cabbage white butterflies have found my brassicas hidden amongst
the marigolds and they are heaving with caterpillars. Are there
any natural remedies other than wearing rubber gloves and
squishing them all?


Bare hands?
Put them in a jam jar and drown them?

How can you drown a creature? A quick death is better, well I think
so.

It is but if pounding them to a pulp isn't an option ... what else is
there? Release them into the wild miles away from your cabbages.


I'll parcel them all up with a few cabbage leaves and mail them to Baz
to look after on his brassicas. ;-)

Looks like the only practical solution is to continue the yucky job of
squishing them or using a pyrethrum based spray as mentioned
elsewhere.


Gosh! You are all too smart for me.
Now, I wonder if I should drown that cat..........

On 03/08/2012 13:57, Baz wrote:
David in Normandy wrote in
r:

On 03/08/2012 13:33, mogga wrote:
On Fri, 03 Aug 2012 10:10:55 GMT, Baz wrote:

mogga wrote in
:

On Thu, 02 Aug 2012 18:51:20 +0200, David in Normandy
wrote:

Cabbage white butterflies have found my brassicas hidden amongst
the marigolds and they are heaving with caterpillars. Are there
any natural remedies other than wearing rubber gloves and
squishing them all?


Bare hands?
Put them in a jam jar and drown them?

How can you drown a creature? A quick death is better, well I think
so.

It is but if pounding them to a pulp isn't an option ... what else is
there? Release them into the wild miles away from your cabbages.


I'll parcel them all up with a few cabbage leaves and mail them to Baz
to look after on his brassicas. ;-)

Looks like the only practical solution is to continue the yucky job of
squishing them or using a pyrethrum based spray as mentioned
elsewhere.


Gosh! You are all too smart for me.
Now, I wonder if I should drown that cat..........

Why not.
just grab it by the scruff of the neck and hold it in a bucket of water,
winner takes all.
And I know where my money would be

When I was young, in nineteen hundred and frozen to death, the organic way to deal with cabbage white caterpillars was to employ small boys at the rate of a penny per dozen picked.

You can train birds to eat them. Chickens love them, but would eat your veg too. I read of someone putting convenient perching posts among their veg to attract wild birds to eat them. Though they might also be convenient for the kind of birds that would eat your veg.

David Hill wrote in news:a820ugFrqjU2
@mid.individual.net:

On 03/08/2012 13:57, Baz wrote:
David in Normandy wrote in
r:

On 03/08/2012 13:33, mogga wrote:
On Fri, 03 Aug 2012 10:10:55 GMT, Baz wrote:

mogga wrote in
:

On Thu, 02 Aug 2012 18:51:20 +0200, David in Normandy
wrote:

Cabbage white butterflies have found my brassicas hidden amongst
the marigolds and they are heaving with caterpillars. Are there
any natural remedies other than wearing rubber gloves and
squishing them all?


Bare hands?
Put them in a jam jar and drown them?

How can you drown a creature? A quick death is better, well I think
so.

It is but if pounding them to a pulp isn't an option ... what else
is
there? Release them into the wild miles away from your cabbages.


I'll parcel them all up with a few cabbage leaves and mail them to
Baz
to look after on his brassicas. ;-)

Looks like the only practical solution is to continue the yucky job
of
squishing them or using a pyrethrum based spray as mentioned
elsewhere.


Gosh! You are all too smart for me.
Now, I wonder if I should drown that cat..........

Why not.
just grab it by the scruff of the neck and hold it in a bucket of
water,
winner takes all.
And I know where my money would be


A fool and his money arre easily parted.

mogga wrote:
How can you drown a creature? A quick death is better, well I think so.
It is but if pounding them to a pulp isn't an option ... what else is
there? Release them into the wild miles away from your cabbages.

I drop them in the chicken run. If they're quick, they have a chance
to escape! Plus it's vaguely entertaining to watch the chickens play
caterpillar-tag.