What's eating my fall cabbage

smokensqueal · Fri Oct 03, 2008 2:08 am

I have some fall cabbage that was looking fine until about a week ago. I found that something is really chowing down on it's leaves. What could it be? I searched the other day and on my 4 plants I found 3 worms. I took them off and smashed them. I thought all was good but nope something is still eating on them. What could it be? One plant is almost completely stripped while others have peaces taken out of them or wholes in the leaves. Any idea?

cynthia_h · Fri Oct 03, 2008 6:03 am

Are there rabbits near your home? This is the kind of damage I've seen ascribed to rabbits (but I haven't experienced them myself).

Deer? Although I can't really imagine deer going after cabbage; it's not that sweet. I *have* seen deer damage; ask me about what they did to my roses one year....

Cynthia H.
USDA Zone 9, Sunset Zone 17

applestar · Fri Oct 03, 2008 12:05 pm

Especially if you were looking during mid-day, when they are active, those caterpillars will curl up and literally JUMP off the leaf to avoid detection -- remember, they think you're a bird coming to have them for lunch! If you found 3, there are probably at least 3 more.

Keep looking!

If you have rabbits around -- ooooh! those pesky wabbits! They've chewed several seedling shrubs and trees I put in nearly to the ground! I'm in the process of caging and/or fencing

They've got plenty of dandelions and clover

tncgroup · Fri Oct 03, 2008 1:53 pm

Had the same thing happen to my collards and kale, but caught it in time. These caterpillars are actually moth larvae. You might also notice a bunch of green slime on the leaves that looks like algae but is actuall a bunch of the eggs! I tried a product called Thuricide - organic - which completely solved the problem.

smokensqueal · Fri Oct 03, 2008 3:30 pm

I don't find any of the slim on the leaves. We did have a lot of rabbits earlier this year but haven't seen any for a few weeks or month. But I guess they could be still sneeking around. I may toss a little pepper on them and see if that stops them.

Do rabbits prefer cabbage over lettuce? I have lettuce right next to my cabbage and it hasn't been touched.

BlueEyedGir · Mon Jun 14, 2010 10:06 pm

I had the green slime and thought it might have been bird poop, but oh no now they are eating my cabbage and Collards. Damn bugs

I think I killed most of them then squirted down my plants with soapy water, hoping that helps, I'll also be making a trip to the market for the organic pesticide.