Something is eating my broccoli/cullyflower.

The plants are nearly gone. I've determined it not to be aphids. I've noticed that these little white butterflies/moths fly around on it and then wasps, so I'm guessing it's that. If this contines, I won't have any option other than to dig them up and toss them in my composter.

 

Could be any of many pests. Could you describe the damage being done, do you see any caterpillars, and look VERY closely at the bottom side of the leaves ... look for while, light green, or light brown bumps.

If the moths are white, have 3 or 4 black spots on the wings, and the wingspread is around 2 inches, they're probably the "Imported Cabbageworm" (Pieris rapae).

An application of "Bacillus thuringiensis variety kurstak" will take care of a lot of the cabbage family pests.

I'd be careful about adding these plants to the compost pile. I never add diseased plants to my pile. As soon as I determine a plant has a disease problem, I take a trash bag to the garden, put it over the plant, then pull up the plant, so the plant and attached soil all go in. Then it goes into the haul-it-off garbage, not into the to-be-burned pile. Same is mostly true for plants with insect problems. I've made exceptions if I was sure what the pest was. I don't want to add disease or pests to my compost. But that's just this old hippie's opinion.

Peace,
poor_old_dad

 

hmmm .KILL THEM

 

maybe catterpillers or white fly they are small and hard to see the nymphs are sap suckers on the under side of the leaf,

 

broccoli has a bad habbit of being eaten before harvest.

mine was eaten, then flooded away... i had a bad gardening year. though it was the most fun.

 

Broccoli is generally very durable and is rarely attacked. It could be slugs


Hotwater

 

youre lucky hotwater, my broccoli always got attacked and people i knew had a hard time with white fly and caterpillers,

 

Did ya'll try an application of "Bacillus thuringiensis variety kurstak"? Or maybe floating row covers? Both is best.

Peace,
poor_old_dad

 

Could be a Groundhog.


There is one living in a borro under our deck.

Its always raiding the neighbors vegtable garden.

One neighbor wants to shoot it. Another asked me to poisin it.
They have shown me the damage the groundhog does.

Its been under the deck for many years.

 

Woodchucks can do a lot of damage, no doubt about it. And the burrows will sometimes cause porches (like your's) or small buildings to have structural integrity problems, things like fall down. But please don't poison them. You never know what will eat poison. Dogs, cats, children, birds... who knows.

They are easy to trap. Here are some traps:
http://www.havahart.com/
http://www.pestproducts.com/universaltrap.htm

For ideas about bait check this, and a whole crown of broccoli is one recommended bait: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cornucop/msg0622444118449.html?146

Here's some good general woodchuck info. Within that article are links to info about other critters too.

And here's the neatest thing I've seen in a while, it's a motion activated sprinkler. http://www.pestproducts.com/scarecrow.htm

Peace,
poor_old_dad

 

The minute pirate bug is my favorite predatory insect, attacking thrips,mites,aphids,young caterpillars,and many other pests.While it can fly,it tends to stay around your garden as long as there's something to eat.But they need to be released before a pest population is beyond repair. Not compatible with the use of pesticides.