Kale and caterpillars

[Diane]

In spite of regular spraying (organic) and squishing, the caterpillars are winning in the kale bed. (tuscan kale). I've taken off most of the spoilt leaves and the plants are now bare, except for the very top where I've left the smaller leaves on. Shall I cut the whole plant down to about 3" and wait and see if any more leaves grow when, hopefully,the cabbage whites have gone away or shall I bin the lot - buy some fleece for protection - and plant another sort of brassica?

Or, shall I just grow turnips??

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Diane, Brassicas have an amazing way of growing back, even when they have been stripped to skeleton status. So i would leave them a while and see what happens....if you can keep squishing the caterpillars, it will help hugely.

[Diane]

Many thanks. I'll keep on squishing then and give the kale a fighting chance.

[Primrose]

Butterflies and caterpillars do seem to love kale. I've managed to mostly protect mine with netting this summer but it's very closely planted and I do need to do an inspection to see what's going on in the middle of the jungle. Last year I was badly affected and stripped off the worst affected leaves and new growth started to appear slowly once the weather turned too cold for the caterpillars to thrive..

[Monika]

Luckily, we have not been badly affected by cabbage whites this year but all our brassicas are under netting, not the very fine anti-butterfly netting but a double layer of anti-bird netting which seems to put off the whites but does let them escape if they do manage to get through.

But I sympathise with you, Diane, because on the tuscan kale's curly edges, the little blighters tend to hide in there and it's only when you cook he kale, the white dead bodies are apparent! Not nice.

I agree with OH - cut off the skeletal leaves, give them a good watering (and light feed?) and wait for new leaves. Their strong roots will be eager to grow leaves again.

[Diane]

Brilliant - that's good news then. I shall persevere.

[Ricard with an H]

I have grown kale for two years now under enviromesh and not had any caterpillars, I also recently took the advise of cutting back most of the growth to get lots of fresh growth from what appeared to be exhausted kale plants.

[Primrose]

The current spell of warm westher has caused a nassive plague of whitefly on my curley kale and Cavalo Nero. When I sprayed the hose on them today a huge cloud of white insects took off. I know if I let them remain for long enough they will weaken the plants so will probably have to persist with a quick daily blasting until the colder weather comes to kill them off.
Is anybody else being bothered by them?

[retropants]

Richard, with the Tuscan kale, do you take all of the leaves off, apart from the new ones that are for harvesting soon? I am currently taking the middle tier leaves, essentially leaving the old ones on the bottom of the plant as they are too tough, and the new ones at the top, so they can get a bit bigger. What's the consensus?
Diane, I grow all my brassicas under veggie mesh, keeps butterflies out, but somehow the whitefly have got in. Nothing a spot of soapy water soaking can't fix.

[Ricard with an H]

My kale was so overgrown that I cut it back to almost nothing, now I have masses of new fresh growth though I had to take the enviromesh covers off because the plants were so tall. I haven't yet looked to see if I have any wildlife on the kale and I thought the only problem was the white butterflies.

I have sown new kale plants that are now four inches tall, the idea was to plant them under those mini polytunnel said I made. Whilst it is much windier here than inland the winter is several degrees warmer though cooler during summer than inland.

This is the first year I grew straight carrots, one I cut up yesterday for mixing with swede was ten inches long and the leeks I was worried about are massive other than the odd runty ones.

I've lost the whole plot with my kitchen gardening since Beti, everything is overgrown, lots of weeds, salad stuff going to seed and the comfrey patch hasn't been harvested. The comfrey has a white mould on the leaves though I'll soon get to cut it all down and dig it in.

Most of the outside painting got done though I have quite a few double glazing units that need replacing. It'll have to wait until the spring now.

Beti has this habit of tearing round and jumping all,over my raised beds, she did respond to The "NO" command for a while but she forgets and so the training continues, hopefully by next spring she will have learnt more things she isn't allowed to do which must be very boring for a puppy.

I swear she laughs at me and runs off with one finger in the air.

[oldherbaceous]

I'm sure Beti wouldn't run off with one finger in the air Richard, as she's a girl and girls don't do that sort of thing....do they?

There again i have led a sheltered life....

[Primrose]

OH - yes, you have obviously led a sheltered life! if you're ever out in a big city late at night, especially on a fine evening, you might be rather shocked to discover what girls do these days . I can't imagine what the Dowager at Downton Abbey would be saying about it all!

[Ricard with an H]

And she's a Cheltenham girl.

[Primrose]

When it comes to caterpillars, i was browsing the web on the topic and came across this. I suppose we just have to be gratedul that our kale plants haven't been affected to this extent.

What do you do? Leave it and admire it as a miracle of nature or get rid of it as quickly as possible before your fellow plot holders run you out of town?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ators.html

[Pa Snip]

Having netted my brassicas throughout the butterfly season I have escaped the ravages of caterpillars.

Unfortunately the cost of enviromesh has precluded me buying enough to cover all the brassicas with it and so my problem is white fly infestation.