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Grrrr....cabbage whites....
On 2013-07-27 21:11:42 +0100, Malcolm said:
In article , Sacha writes On 2013-07-26 15:53:48 +0100, Indigo said: "David.WE.Roberts" wrote I've sown some old greyhound cabbage seeds in trays to see if they were still viable and have had a few germinate. So I had perhaps 6-8 seedlings in two mushroom trays (the brown ones you buy mushrooms in) out on a shelf down the garden, waiting to be planted out. Yesterday they were surrounded by a crowd of cabbage white butterflies, and the tiny leaves were covered top and bottom with little white posts which I assume are eggs. [...] I am seriously considering doing the same because nothing is worse than putting in a load of work and a load of plants just to see them all eaten. Oh dear. I know the feeling. My broccoli plants kept getting eaten into green lace each year, despite the usual net, so this time I've made a cage with brand new netting which is smaller gauge (5x7mm) and so far they've not been able to shimmy their way through, despite trying hard. I remembered to put cardboard collars to defeat cabbage root fly too, which was another pest that attacked last year. There does seem to be a sudden huge increase in white butterfly numbers over the last few days. The garden's alive with them atm; they seem to be partial to Scabious or Lavender flowers when they can't get brassicas. There are some butterflies around that might be mistaken for cabbage whites, apparently. I've recently read that they've been seen in considerable numbers. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/ear...7897/The-UKs-b iggest-ever-survey-to-find-the-most-common-butterfly-in-British-gardens. html It doesn't matter if one is mistaken for the other. There are two species of butterfly popularly known as "Cabbage Whites" - the Large White and the Small White It is the latter that is featured in that article. The main food plants of both species are members of the Brassica family, e.g. cabbages, broccoli, etc., etc., and the caterpillars of both are capable of doing significant damage both in gardens and on farms. Both are resident almost throughout Britain, except the far north, and both populations can be joined, in some years, by vast numbers of immigrants from the continent. There is a third widespread species of white butterfly - the Green-veined White - which, when it closes its wings, is striped greeny-yellow on the undersides. They don't seem to attack garden brassicas to any significant degree. We've seen lots here and the only brassicas we grow at present are the plants we have for sale. They're all looking quite well so I wonder what the butterflies are using for food. -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.com South Devon www.helpforheroes.org.uk |
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