Pretty White Butterflies in the garden

FruitAddict · Sat Jul 17, 2010 11:51 am

I was wondering - I've seen a few posts that have made reference to killing those "pretty white butterflies" in the garden and so I've been trying this year... they flit around so quickly I have yet to be able to get one... what is the secret to this?

As I look out at the garden right now there are few flying around but whenever I go in the garden they manage to disappear or flit around so quickly that I haven't managed to get one with my fly swatter yet.

What are they after in my garden anyway?

lorax · Sat Jul 17, 2010 12:31 pm

Those would be Cabbage Moths; as the name suggests, they're after members of the cabbage family - so your broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels Sprouts are all fair game to them.

I've found that a cabbage leaf with a bit of tanglefoot is a good trap, but it needs to be renewed every few days.

applestar · Sat Jul 17, 2010 12:38 pm

A butterfly net. Definitely.

DD loves to catch them. Unfortunately, she won't let me kill them, so she "releases them" outside our property -- "so they'll stay away from your garden, Mama!"

Gary350 · Sat Jul 17, 2010 1:52 pm

Those very small white butterflies about the size of a penny or nickel are Moths. I'm not sure about the larger ones the size of a quarter. Get you some bird houses and you won't have bugs. You can suck Moths up with a shop vac.

FruitAddict · Sat Jul 17, 2010 6:16 pm

I love that Shop Vac Idea - I've got one of those with a really long hose. Thank you.

BrianSkilton · Sat Jul 17, 2010 6:22 pm

What I do is turn on the the water, grab the hose and smoke them to the ground. Its hard but if you know how to do it just right your golden. Also I wait until the hover stationary and I can grab them with my hands, that is very very difficult though. I've killed 8 of those little devils in and hour and a half. I woke up one morning and saw my garden had about 20 or them flying around, that is when I said enough is enough.

I will have to adopt that shop vac idea....

jal_ut · Sat Jul 17, 2010 7:04 pm

Those pretty little white butterflies don't harm the plants. What they do is lay eggs on them. It is the little green worms that hatch from the eggs that cause the problems. Yes, they do especially like the cole crops. It is going to be pretty hard to stand there all day and keep them out of your garden. The best thing is to address the worms. BT, Pyrethrins, or Diatomaceous Earth are some of the controls often used. One thing for sure, unless you do address the problem, your cole crops will be badly damaged.

FruitAddict · Sat Jul 17, 2010 7:12 pm

I've read that Diatomaceous Earth is good for Slug & Snails too... I had problems with those last year and thought I would try it this year.

To use "Diatomaceous Earth" you sprinkle it on top of the soil and do not mix in correct? If I do it this year it will not still be effective next year after I rototill will it? I will have to add more on top every year correct?

jal_ut · Sat Jul 17, 2010 11:47 pm

DE persists in the soil. It is the abandoned shells of diatoms and has very sharp edges. It is effective because it is abrasive to insects, scratching them up and causing loss of fluids. I can't say if it is effective the following year after the soil has been tilled.

For green worm control, sprinkle it on the plants. For sure it won't deter the green worms unless it is on the plants.

Slugs are no problem here, so I can't offer much guidance on their control.

garden5 · Sun Jul 18, 2010 9:25 am

I remember another post about using shop-vacs for bees. Seems like there are lot more things they can suck up than just dust

.

If you have some floating row covers over your cabbage-family crops, you may be able to spare the butterflies.

BrianSkilton · Sun Jul 18, 2010 4:25 pm

Yes, the butterflies themselves don't hurt the plants but they lay a junk ton of eggs that will turn into worms (usually green), I have seen 3-4 different kinds of eggs on my cabbages a couple of weeks ago, so I had to pull them, those green and brown worms are seriously wrecking havoc on some of my plants. It isn't just the white butterflies laying eggs, because I see brown worms as well. Those white butterflies lay eggs everywhere, my rhubarb, my squash, my brassics, almost anything, and those green worms completely striped the leaves of my horseradish last summer, killing the two plants I had. I had those moths/butterflies. I saw another 10 in my garden this morning I killed another 5 today, bringing the total up to 45 white moths killed this summer.