Caterpillars have appeared on cabbage, they are attracted by nourishing vegetable juice. If you do not react quickly and eliminate the pests, they can very quickly destroy the entire crop. In less than a week, a few caterpillars are able to turn a whole head of cabbage into a skeleton. And when there are more than a dozen such pests in the garden, trouble is inevitable. Consider the main methods of struggle that effectively exterminate the larvae.
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Natural remedies
Natural remedies are especially good if there are not too many caterpillars yet. Products with a deterrent smell will help stop the active spread of pests. If there are already a huge number of insects, it is difficult to do without the use of chemicals. Here are some pesticide-free ways to get rid of cabbage caterpillars:
- 200 g of grated laundry soap is diluted in a bucket of water, several handfuls of wood ash are added. This solution is poured over cabbage leaves.
- Pour 300 g of onion husks with a liter of boiling water. Insist 48 hours, dilute with 2 liters of cold water, add and stir 50 ml of any liquid soap. The mixture is poured over the cabbage.
- Water is poured into 50 g of tobacco, left to brew for 72 hours. Filter, dilute with 2 liters of a strong soap solution. Vegetable crops are sprayed: both cabbage and its neighbors.
- Finely cut 5 pods of hot pepper, pour warm water, bring to a boil, allow to cool and water the leaves.
- 200 g of fresh burdock leaves are poured with warm water. To get an effective infusion, leave for a week before fermentation. Then they filter and pour the mixture over the soil under the head of cabbage and process the heads of cabbage themselves.
- Diluted in a bucket of warm settled water 150 g of dried stems, leaves and roots of delphinium. The broth is kept in a dark room for three days, then boiled over low heat for about 90 minutes, cooled and filtered. When the caterpillars appear, spray the green vegetable with the mixture and water the ground under each of them.
- Used to combat caterpillars and burdock. 400 g of weed leaves are poured with cold water and insisted for 3-4 days. Leaves affected by pests are treated with the product several times at intervals of three hours.
- Gruel from 10 heads of garlic is poured into 5 liters of warm water. Strain after 28 hours of infusion, water the heads of cabbage and the soil.
- An infusion of 600 g of potato tops and 5 liters of water is boiled for 30 minutes, after allowing the mixture to stand for at least 2 days. After filtration, dilute with a bucket of water and mix with 100 g of grated soap. The beds are sprayed.
Alternative methods of protection
The most important thing in any method of struggle is not to start the situation. Destroy weeds more often when weeding, mulch the soil with needles that prevent butterflies from flying up to the heads of cabbage, sprinkle mustard powder between the rows.
Experienced gardeners call several more alternative methods of repelling and eliminating pests:
- Eggshell. Cabbage butterflies perceive the shells hung around the garden for their happier "colleagues", who have allegedly taken over this territory. Therefore, they fly by and look for other places to live.
- Flour with soda. This mixture is deadly to insects. To get rid of uninvited guests, flour and soda are mixed in equal proportions and the cabbage heads are powdered with this powder.
- The vinegar essence has the same effect as the baking soda flour. A tablespoon of acid is diluted in 10 liters of liquid. The resulting solution is poured over cabbage.
- Vinegar can be replaced with 50 ml of ammonia, add 2 tbsp. l. salt and start processing the leaves and soil under the plants.
As you can see, there are a lot of funds, you can choose what is at hand at the moment. And take advantage of it without wasting time, without giving the caterpillars any chance.
Do you know how to get rid of caterpillars on cabbage?
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