Broccoli and Kale Killers

Well, it's that time of the year again when you can spot the Cabbage Moths fluttering around on sunny days, chasing one another and having what looks like a good time, and at our place, landing on the broccoli and kale plants to lay their dreaded eggs, UGGGGH!

The last couple of weeks there have been oodles of them and there's plenty of evidence that these pest have been enjoying themselves and boinking their little brains out!

The kale is being hit the hardest, however, not from the cabbage moth caterpillars alone. Their partners in crime are the Zebra caterpillars and this year these dude are doing way more damage then the aforementioned caterpillars.

Now the good news is that we don't eat the kale, so I'm not as upset as I might typically be. We actually plant the kale to feed our rabbits and they LOVE it!! You can get these plants in the ground earlier than most seedlings come Spring time here in New England and they often last well into the fall, which gives us some nice greens for the buns for a long stretch.

What we typically do now is pick enough to give the bunnies a treat each day but before tossing them into their cages Emilie and I search through each leaf picking out the caterpillars and hand feeding them to the chickens. To be honest it's a pain in the buttsky but required, plus the ladies absolutely love them. We've caught, and in some cases squashed, literally hundreds of these dudes to date and to give you an idea we only have (7) kale plants and (5) broccoli plants. The kale plants are definitely taking the brunt of the destruction, which I am chalking up to their curly leaves, which provide some nice hiding places. The broccoli leaves are smooth, so it's easier to spot the pests when I do my daily inspections, hence the squashing.

Here is a picture of one of our kale plants and as you can see (you may need to expand the picture to get a better view) there is substantial damage. Also, note the green turds left behind from the feeding caterpillars, yuck! I'm just glad I'm not a rabbit eating this _hit...

This picture shows one of each caterpillar. The small green dude is the Cabbage Moth caterpillar, and the two yellowish ones are the Zebra caterpillars - all three demised.