Saw my first white cabbage looper butterfly today. Time to put on the floating row cover! (Northern Alabama)
It was so late this year, I thought maybe I'd get by without it for once...
Dipel will help. It is Bt and only affects caterpillars and not anything else. It also helps to reduce the number of plants that butterflies like.
I got a butterfly bush for propagation purposes, but even though I kept cutting off the flowers, it continued to bloom and attract butterflies although they were mostly monarchs and not the cabbage moth. Normally, I don't have to protect my broccoli from caterpillars since the cabbage moths usually don't find my plants. Except for that year that I had the butterfly bush, one moth did find the cabbage and it was being damaged. I hand picked a couple of the caterpillars but the anoles took care of most of them. I did have to get rid of the butterfly bush to keep it from attracting more butterflies.
If you still want to attract the butterflies, then row covers are probably the best solution to keep your plants and the butterflies isolated.
I got a butterfly bush for propagation purposes, but even though I kept cutting off the flowers, it continued to bloom and attract butterflies although they were mostly monarchs and not the cabbage moth. Normally, I don't have to protect my broccoli from caterpillars since the cabbage moths usually don't find my plants. Except for that year that I had the butterfly bush, one moth did find the cabbage and it was being damaged. I hand picked a couple of the caterpillars but the anoles took care of most of them. I did have to get rid of the butterfly bush to keep it from attracting more butterflies.
If you still want to attract the butterflies, then row covers are probably the best solution to keep your plants and the butterflies isolated.