What are these little eggs on broccolli

[MikeFIT]

Anyone know what these are and are they hatching and eating my broccolli and brussel sprouts?

[applestar]

If you mean the dark green blobs, they look like caterpillar frass (poop)... And yes, the caterpillars are eating the plants -- hence the dark green. I'm going to look at the pics more closely to see if I spot any.
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Nope can't see any. Look along the leaf ribs both topside and underside, as well as inside the folds of new leaves. Hand pick and dispose caterpillars and eggs. They could be velvety frosty green cabbage white, green and lime green striped cabbage moth, or green inchworm cabbage loopers. Cabbage butterfly eggs are off-white barrel shaped, and cabbage moth eggs look like flat yellow waxy blobs.

If there are too many to hand pick, you may want to resort to stronger measures. Let us know.

[MikeFIT]

Thanks, I'll clean them off. Is there any homemade concoction I can come up with to spray on them?

[Tonio]

You could use BT , if keeping an eye on the rascals are a time/opportunity challenge.

Its organic, but need to apply after rain/ 4-5 day increment.

[kenzzo54]

I just joined this forum today specifically to try and find an answer to this problem! I also garden in southern Maryland and saw these on my brussel sprout plants today. Does anyone know if something like a soap & water spray will keep them off? Or are there any companion plants that would help?

[MikeFIT]

I pulled 5 of these worms off the brussles, broccoli, and cauliflower yesterday. I gotta think that helps somewhat. They are hard to see as they blend well with the green color of the leaves.

[applestar]

Covering them is by far the easiest way:



I have to raise the 2nd bed netting support because thisis an older photo and now they are pushing against the top. If the leaves are pressed up against the netting, the butterflies and moths can get lucky and lay their eggs through the netting.

On the other hand, the netting also keeps out the beneficial wasps and flies that would plasticize the caterpillars or wasps and birds that would pluck them off to feed them to their young.

Best companions are planted earlier -- the blooms of radish, arugula, mustard, cilantro, chervil, etc. that bolt when it's gets hot attract the predatory beneficial insects. Onions and garlic are said to help. Some people make garlic and hot pepper spray, though I haven't tried that. (I tend to dislike any spray because they can affect the flavor and I get frustrated trying to wash them off.)

But once the infestation is beyond reasonable control by hand picking, I agree Bt for caterpillars is the best as long as it is used carefully so as not to poison the butterflies and moth caterpillars that you WANT to have living in and around your garden.