At different stages of their lifecycle, the larvae eat the brassicas from the inside, the adults from the outside. They seem to come from nearby fields of rape, which are bio/organic.There is next to nothing online about getting rid of them, bar farming sites which discuss drenching them in insecticide. Fine netting doesn’t seem to keep them off. Gardening forums consulted appear to show that few people have come across them. Locals consulted are equally unfamiliar with them.
I wonder if anyone else has experienced them, and is aware of a kind way of getting rid of them, as an alternative to a) uprooting and b) not being able to grow any more brassicas, which seems rather depressing…
Our first line of attack for just about anything is drenching plants in nettle purin. It seems to work on cabbage white fly. Possibly worth a try as can’t harm them!
Thank you Jane for that inspired suggestion. I have to confess, having led a fairly sheltered life, that I hadn’t come across nettle purin before, but now reading up about it, we have definitely got to give it a go…very grateful.
For anyone else who is equally unfamiliar, here is the recipe and ‘user guide’…
We thought we might throw in some tomato leaves into the literal mix, as they are unique in our garden, being almost the only item that nothing seems to have attacked, so far…
Just make sure you place you bucket far away from your house. It stinks!!
We feed tomatoes with nettle early in season as nitrogen rich, and then switch to comfrey purin when flowering starts for the potassium. Which when you look at price of tomato feed in garden centres is well worth the effort.
Mare’s tail purin is good for mildew, equally stinky. And garlic for flies.
There is a stinky bucket for just about everything…
