broccoli and butterflies

I transplanted my young broccoli seedlings from their seed tray to the garden this weekend. I gave them a space between a row of dill and one of kale. I spaced them about 5 inches apart. They seem pretty happy. I noticed that the fall crop of broccoli at a nearby farm is only a little bigger than mine now.

I've been enjoying several small white butterflies that bounce and flutter and play over my garden in the mornings. This pretty white butterfly is called a Cabbage White (Pieris rapae). It is one of the most common butterflies in North America. The photo shows one sipping nectar from one of my cucumber flowers. A little research showed me that this lovely insect has caterpillars that enjoy eating kale and broccoli. Ah-ha! So that's where the holes in the leaves have been coming from. The solution seems to be row covers. A little leaf damage doesn't affect my broccoli florets, but now I know that if I want un-holey kale I should consider row covers.

Brassicaceae
Kale (Brassica oleracea, Acephala Group)

cabbage white butterflies (Pieris rapae)
butterflies (Lepidoptera)

cabbage white butterfly

Pretty little cabbage white butterflies (Pieris rapae) are doing their dance in pairs all over the place. These are the most common butterfly in the US and BAD news for broccoli and cabbages. Tomorrow I will try to remember to bring hoops and row cover to the garden. I cover my brassicas at least until the plants are big. Same at my home garden, though I haven't seem any cabbages whites there yet. They'll find the broccoli soon. Kale too.

My parents' broccoli did fine last last year without any covers. And I notice others at the community gardens don't cover their cabbage. Maybe it just mine they get into. Or maybe the other gardeners spray. In any case, I'll be covering up soon.

Added later:
Here are some more photos of this pretty little butterfly.



cabbage white butterflies (Pieris rapae)
Brassicaceae
butterflies (Lepidoptera)

row cover for broccoli

This morning I covered my broccoli and kale seedlings with row cover to protect against the caterpillar of the cabbage white butterfly. Gretta says there are also flea beetles around. Both are a real problem and will eat the seedings down to nothing. So these guys get to be covered all season. Later I'll make taller hoops.

cabbage white butterflies (Pieris rapae)

checking under the row covers

My broccoli seedlings look like happy campers under their row cover. And when I checked my dinosaur kale I was amazed at the beautiful big crinkled leaves. I've never used row cover in the summer before and am impressed at how warm and bright and humid it is underneath. The plants are growing very well.

I covered my kale and broccoli because of green caterpillars of cabbage white butterfly. These were eating holes in the leaves of the kale and eating entire baby broccoli plants.


Brassicaceae
Kale (Brassica oleracea, Acephala Group)

cabbage white butterflies (Pieris rapae)

covered kale

My kale is now covered. I bought some galvanized stainless wire and made hoops and then covered them with row cover and secured with plastic pegs. I picked a good batch of it a couple weeks ago (photo below), but ended up composting it because there were too many holes in the leaves for it to be appetizing. Hopefully the cover will help. Of course, it doesn't get rid of the caterpillars that are already on the leaves. It just prevents the moths from laying more eggs.

On the far side of the covered kale are my baby broccoli plants. These are also being eaten, presumably by the cabbage white caterpillars. I will have to cover these plants too. My next project....

I looked hard, but didn't find any green caterpillars. Since I have noticed many cabbage white butterflies, I assume this caterpillar is who is eating my brassica. The caterpillar I did find is pictured below. It is tiny and like an inchworm, but I don't know what type of worm it is.


Brassicaceae
Kale (Brassica oleracea, Acephala Group)
cabbage white butterflies (Pieris rapae)