Kitchen Garden Forum

Ok - has other threads have said, 2m wide fleece isn't wide enough to properly cover brassicas and I have had to remove it since more damage was being caused inside and I couldn't control them. Now I am back to spending too much time removing them and I am shortly going away for a week. Dread to think what skeletons I may find when I come back, so any suggestions for sprays?!

Derris.

I had to resort to this last year.
I picked off every single caterpiller, put them in a bottle, sealed the top and put that in the wheeliebin at home, took all afternoon picking.

Two days later, covered again.

Derris'd once, all gone for real.

Hi Peter,
Strangely Nicotine has the same effect and if mixed with a Soft Soap solution the staying power is very good. Bees are very unlikely to visit Brassicas before I get accused of being a mass murderer.
JB.

Well I tried Derris earlier and the effect, if any, seemed minimal and not that long-lasting, especially when it rained. Might try again - will have to buy more - but Johnboy what suitable nicotine spray is there?

I'm not sure gardeners can buy a nicotine spray. Isn't it a banned substance? Years ago, when I was a smoker, I used to mix up some old tobacco with water and spray that on affected plants. Worked a treat.

Hi Angi,
The Soil Association withdrew it from their list of permitted chemicals for Organic use but Nicotine is still perfectly legal as far as I am aware. I can still purchase it through commercial suppliers. I do not buy it but I regret to say that I am a smoker and I roll my own cigarettes and keep the butts and once a year have a boil up and decant the liquor. It is always sprayed responsibly after most bees have gone to bed for the night. It's also the only spray I know that stops Flea Beetles dead in their tracks.
Most of my crops are now protected by Fleece or Anti White Fly netting so the use is not so great as it used to be but if necessary I do not hesitate to use it.
Did you get the right amount of Courgettes this year?
JB

Hello Johnboy. Yes, I thought commercial growers could buy it, I did mean that us ordinary bods couldn't. Like you, I rolled my own and did just what you say. I've had a rubbish courgette crop this year. I think I've had about five courgettes! Strange because I've had a bumper winter squash harvest from my Golden Nugget, Delicata, Blue Kuri and Butternut plants, although my Sweet Dumplings have sat there fruitless.

Dear Colin,
Went to the Brussel Sprouts yesterday and found the skeletons leaves but just at the top. Surpise it wasn't the cabbage white which lays the mass orange coloured eggs (which hatches into the yellow/green caterpillar) or the white single eggs (which hatches into the green caterpillar which lies up the vein of a leaf and can hardly be seen). The damage was to the heart of the top of the sprout where several whitish green caterpillars lurked. They appear to eat by night and tuck themselves up in the heart by day. The sprouts are about two foot high so I have now cut out the tops, gave the plants a feed with Gromore and look forward to Christmas Dinner.
Is anyone able to identify the culprit?
Waltham Gardener