Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

My broccoli is getting smashed badly by cabbage moths... (i think).... i have picked off small caterpillars and fed them to the fish, but no matter how many i get off... i keep losing leaves and finding more of the bastards... What can i safely do to get rid of them... some sprays, companion planting????? ideas please

greatly appreciated.

Steve you may use Dipel, it will not harm the fish as long as you go by the instructions and make up as directed.
Otherwise be vigilant and keep giving your fish treat.

Hmmm if they're cabbage moths, then good luck, I hope some1 can help. My cabbages got decimated by these moths this year I was pulling off 6 per day per cabbage, and yet by afternoon, more full size grubs were on the leaves, like they hide in the gravel or some such.
Good luck my friend. I will watch avidly to see if I can stop it happening again next time.
What irritates me most, is where do they come from? I have few weeds and few other bugs, simply because of the remoteness of the bed... but cabbage moths I got. They could eat a leaf to veins only in 24 hours.
Anyhow, I'll stop making you feel bad and see if any1 else replies. I'm annoyed to note that broccoli suffers from cabbage moth... I have some planted


See Faye already beat me. What exactly is dipel, can we make it? I detest buying things

http://www.pestgenie.com.au/label/sumit ... 104519.pdf
http://www.yates.com.au/products/pest-c ... secticide/
This will give you more information and I have used it and found it to be safe with my fish. Use commonsense and don't be excessive.

Just had another thought, if you want to make your own KP you can collect the offending critters. Combine them with a mortar and pestle or blender add water and spray, it serves as a lesson to their mates. Bugs are warned off by the dead smell of their own. I can't even remember where I heard that now.

Yea its true i have heard that one to from dear old daddy 45 years ago

+1 for dipel.

While we are on the topic of pests, I wanted to ask about eating bugs. I've got some caulies growing, a couple of them have been infested with earwigs which are fairly easy to remove before eating. But I had one which was covered with thrip or aphids or something. I couldn't wash them off, and my wife and kids didn't like the look of them (dark grey bugs on white veg) and so didn't eat it. I still ate it. I wondered if there are any bug you shouldn't eat?

Most bugs are full of protein, and good for you... but I assume there must be bad bugs.

After what I refer to as extensive googling, I have found nothing on the topic at all. Nothing. The only insects related to human consumption, are big buggers like crickets, scorpians, spiders (I know not insects) cockroaches etc.
Nothing at all mentions garden pests.

I tell a lie, no sooner did I post that last, than I found the following http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1525/is_/ai_15929283 It's information is sparse, but includes a couple of references.
There are definitely no health warnings I can find in regard to insects on food.

Take one for the team? We'll keep an eye out in the obituaries.

My garden was destroyed last month from the moths. I did use Dipel, but the instructions say to reapply after rains.

What we found was the bug fell off burrowed into the clay pellets and washed the dipel off. I was playing around with the water level in a bed, and flooded it too high. All these really big grubs came swimming out and started climbing back up the plants

I friend and I picked well over a hundred or so out of the flooded gravel. It was soul destroying to see lovely silver beet ruined in a day.

Silverbeet is one of the things that has not been eaten in my garden.....

Dont worry, it will grow back in a fortnight - got a pic of the bugs - if it was not a caterpillar, dipel wont help.

There is something I've found will get rid of those heavy aphid messes on broccoli you're about to cook- swish it really good in a big pot of boiling water and most will come off, then cook in another pot. Don't let the kids see it beforehand!

If I see the white to yellow cloud butterflies flitting around my cabbage and other cole plants I check for the little egg clusters daily on the backs of the leaves and try to eliminate them before they hatch and start to cause damage.

Organic gardening magazine proposed blending the pest and spraying it back on, it was supposed to release the pathogens present in the bugs to make them sick.

Encouraging predatory wasps, etc in your yard by growing lots of flowers and herbs to act as nectar and pollen sources helps keep the pests down. Tolerating the wasps and their nests helps. I invert large black plastic pots for the paper wasps to nest in.

HB

Well today I saw for the first time a predeatory wasp eating a caterpillar. Never seen it before. I will try and post a photo tomorrow, it was magic.

Wait till you see them pick the caterpillars off the plant and fly away with them. The smaller wasps also lay eggs or larva into the caterpillars. Ends up like aliens when they bust out.