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caterpillars on broccoli

madam green fingersmadam green fingers Posts: 72
in Fruit & veg

i am growing some purple sprouting broccoli and i have started having caterpillars eating the leaves. is there anything i can do to stop them getting on the leaves? 

Posts

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190

    About the only thing I know of is to pick them off by hand and squish.

    Its a good idea to put a very fine mesh cage over them to stop the butterfly laying eggs on the leaves.

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • madam green fingersmadam green fingers Posts: 72

    thank you i will try it

  • Elizabeth WinstanleyElizabeth Winstanley Posts: 50

    Could try spraying with Py.  It's a 'natural' pest killer and I've used it in the past  on my brassicas.  Getting 50 or more caterpillars off a leaf to squash them is time consuming and messy.  You don't have to wait before you can harvest fruit and veg either.

  • madam green fingersmadam green fingers Posts: 72

    i will see if i can find it in my local garden centre, thank you!!

  • bekkie hughesbekkie hughes Posts: 5,294
    If the purple sprouting is a reasonable size, the caterpillers wont really harm it even if you dont pick them off, my plants are usually able to recover, especially as they wont be ready for a while yet. image

    If the plants are very small i usually pick off the leaf that has them on and put it down gently on the compost heap, i dont like to kill things and really like butterflies! image
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