[Ann and Rob]

Could anybody tell me a good spray that kills caterpillars as they have devastated my crop of cabbages and sprouts or do I have to pick them off one by one 
Ann and Rob

[WarescotFarm]

a duck? ours eats the caterpillars and leaves the cabbages alone 

[Sbom]

I'm sure my dad told me last year to spray them with fairy liquid water 

[YorkshireLass]

I've just scattered rosemary clippings around the lacey brassicas.


Either the smell will do something or they'll just be so puzzled they forget to lay eggs!

[RUSTYME]

Hello A+R,
I don't use chemicals full stop , whatever you put on veg you will end up eating . Your veg , your body , it's your choice .
I just pick the buggers off and feed them to the birds or squish them .
Even 100 cabbages doesn't take too long to do , but if you have half an acre or more , you may need some extra hands !

[Fleecewife]

I'm with Rustyme here - squash them.  When the caterpillars are bad I go along the rows every day, picking off and squashing caterpillars and searching out any new egg clutches on the undersides of the leaves before they hatch out.  You can soon get on top of them and the plants recover.  My chickens hate cabbage white caterpillars and won't touch them, although they love the soft green single ones, which are much more difficult to spot.

[Lesley Silvester]

I try to get them at the egg stage but those I miss are given swimming lessons in a bucket of water.  They're not very good at it.   

[anderso]

We let the ducks loose on them its good to watch!!

[jaykay]

Fairy liquid water helps with the eggs and tiny caterpillars, but the big ones you have to pick off

My chooks won't eat the stripy large white caterpillars either but as you say, they love the juicy green small whites 

[Fleecewife]

Fairy liquid water helps with the eggs and tiny caterpillars, but the big ones you have to pick off

My chooks won't eat the stripy large white caterpillars either but as you say, they love the juicy green small whites 

You make those velvety green ones sound really tasty Jaykay  

[sabrina]

I took pick them off, also have flowers and butterfly friendly plants around my veg plot and this does help. Not sure if I am right on this one but due to being unwell when the chickweed took of the plants almost covered in this have remained untouched. May leave it to grow next year to see if this is a reason my cabbages are surving.

[jaykay]

You make those velvety green ones sound really tasty Jaykay

Where do you get those amazing emotiwhatsits 

[Plantoid]

I'm not deeply into total organics so used Plant Rescue " from a garden centre .. it certainly saw the little beggars off as well as white fly , redspider mite and black fly ..
I  fine sprayed one  late one dry still evening  ( few and far between ),  there are set withdrawl days to allow decay wash out of the chemicals and they vary from crop to crop.
You have a maximum number of sprayings per crop.
 
I think it cost me £4.60 and to me because of disabilities was worth every single penny .