Pretty little thing, isn’t she?
Sure, think that now. But here’s what she did to our cabbage before she got wings:
Originally, I was only going to post the cabbage picture and title it something like, “What has gone wrong!?” But after reading about cabbage-eating insects, seeing pictures of the cabbage white butterfly, and realizing that I had taken a picture of a very similar butterfly on our pumpkins this morning, I decided to compare pictures and, sure enough, this is a cabbage white butterfly. (Here are some pictures from other people: Link 1, Link 2, Link 3, and the larve who ate our cabbages: Link 4.
Chris pulled off tons of green worms from the cabbages every day. They were also infested with aphids. We did get some neem oil to spray on them, but it looks like the cabbages may be doomed anyway.
Tip for next year: Plan for a fall harvest of cabbages. This may not prevent the aphids, but most of the caterpillars will have turned to butterflies by mid-summer. Also, putting up a barrier around the base of the cabbage (like a tin can) may help keep new caterpillars from finding the delicious cabbage. Also, I’ve read that red cabbages don’t have as strong as a smell as green cabbages – this may incline the moths to lay their eggs elsewhere. Interplanting dill and other strong-smelling herbs may also help.
