BadCritter: White Cabbage Butterfly

 

Oh but I hate these beautiful little butterflies. They are particularly active in spring and early summer. I don’t see them in January and February in Perth and suspect it is just too hot.

I squish them and their caterpillars, turning them back into the soil.

Species:

Pieris rapae

Identification:

Adult:

20171203 white butterfly

Eggs:

20171110_103545

Caterpillar:

20170918_180345.jpg

Damage:

They will munch your greens leaving the tell tale holes you see above. The caterpillars are hard to spot as you can see.

Control:

I usually spray my chili plants and greens with Dipel and pyrethrum (my go to natural insecticide spray) if I notice any damage. I found the first time I used Dipel was amazing. I didn’t think the caterpillars were doing that much harm to the plant but the returning plant vigor proved that wrong.

Ben swears by the use of butterfly shaped cardboard cutouts and I use egg shells. Both methods are thought to make the laying females move along to another patch.

More Resources:
  • See more BadCritters here

Please consider subscribing to get a weekly email summary of our posts.

 

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.