10 Ways to Get Rid of Cabbage Worms From Your Garden [Naturally & Efficiently]

Cabbage worms are like unwelcome guests in your home garden. Almost every gardener I know has faced these little troublemakers. Spotting them is tricky; they munch on your plants a lot, and they keep coming back for more throughout the season. It’s like a never-ending battle!

The good part is that you’ve got options to keep these cabbage worms from snacking on your brassica greens. If you’re aiming for an organic garden, don’t stress about perfection. Instead, focus on managing pests in a way that keeps your crops healthy.

Let’s dive into the world of cabbage worms – what they do, the mess they create, and how to kick them out of your plants.

What Are Cabbage Worms?

Physical Characteristics

Picture this: you’re inspecting your cabbage leaves, and you spot these velvety green caterpillars munching away. That’s your typical cabbageworm! They’re usually about an inch long, slim, and, you guessed it, green.

What sets them apart is a faint yellow stripe running down their back, making them easy to spot if you take a closer look. Their camouflage game is strong, blending right in with the cabbage leaves, so keep those peepers sharp!

Life Cycle Stages

Knowing the cabbageworm’s life cycle is like having a secret weapon against crop damage.

Just like in life, knowing stuff gives you power. Understanding how cabbage worms grow and change helps you spot them when they come close to your plants. If you see adult butterflies or moths hanging around, it’s a signal that caterpillars or pupae might be showing up soon.

The life journey of all three cabbageworm types is pretty much the same. The grown-up butterflies or moths sip on nectar and lay eggs on nearby plants. Those eggs hatch into caterpillars or larvae that munch on leaves until they’re ready to become pupae.

The pupae transform into adult butterflies or moths, and the whole cycle starts again – happening many times throughout the season.

Common Types of Cabbage Worms

Meet the Trouble Trio: Imported cabbage worm, cabbage looper, and diamondback moth – these are the infamous cabbage worms. They’re like small, green caterpillars, causing a headache for gardens all around. In science, these troublemakers go by the names Artogeia rapae or Pieris rapae, Trichoplusia ni, and Plutella xylostella, respectively.

These pests are real invaders, and their speedy life cycle means they can have multiple generations in just one season.

As the name suggests, these pests have a thing for cabbage and its plant relatives. Brassicas are the family that includes veggies like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, collard greens, mustard greens, brussels sprouts, bok choy, and kohlrabi.

But these cabbage moths aren’t picky eaters – they’ll also go after flowers that have mustard oil, like nasturtiums, and other members of the Brassicaceae family, such as sweet alyssum. They really don’t discriminate!

Let’s take a closer look at the troublemakers in the cabbage patch.

Imported Cabbage Worm

Meet the elegant 2-inch cabbage white butterfly. The ladies have two black spots on each wing, laying tiny yellow eggs on leaves. These eggs hatch into small green caterpillars (about 1 inch long) that can chow down a lot of your plant’s leaves. Expect to see these critters buzzing around in 2-3 generations each season.

Cabbage Looper

Picture a nocturnal moth with a brown, speckled look – that’s the cabbage looper. Even though it’s only 1.5 inches in size, a female can lay up to 350 eggs on nearby leaves. The eggs are small and creamy white, and the emerging green larvae (1.5 inches long) have thin white stripes on their sides.

Interesting fact: these loopers move without middle legs, kind of like a leafy dance. In colder places, you might spot 2-3 generations, while warmer spots can have 5-7 in a season.

Diamondback Moth

Meet the sneaky 1-inch grayish-brown diamondback moth, often rocking a cream-colored band in a diamond shape on its back. They lay eggs on the underside of leaves, near the veins. The emerging pupae are tiny – only ⅓ of an inch.

The number of generations varies, from 4 to 8 in colder spots and up to 12 in warmer places. These moths are real masters of disguise!

Signs of Cabbage Worm Infestation

Detecting a cabbageworm takeover isn’t as tricky as you might think. Look out for those telltale signs! Holes in the leaves? Check. Dark green droppings, a not-so-pleasant calling card? Check.

If you spot chewed-up leaves and little green gifts left behind, chances are cabbage worms are crashing your garden party. Don’t panic; we’ve got ways to handle this invasion.

10 Ways to Keep Cabbage Worms Away

#1. Crop Rotation

Imagine this: you’ve been growing cabbages in the same spot year after year. Those sneaky cabbage worms know your routine and can plan their mischief accordingly. Now, enter crop rotation – the garden’s way of keeping pests on their toes.

By switching the locations of your cabbage plants, you’re throwing a curveball at the worms. They get disoriented, like a game of hide-and-seek where the hiding spots keep changing. This disrupts their life cycle, making it harder for them to settle in and wreak havoc.

So, when should you shake things up in your cabbage patch? The key is to rotate your crops annually. If you had cabbages in one plot last year, move them to a new spot this year. It’s like giving your garden a fresh start and keeping those pesky cabbage worms guessing. Ideally, try not to plant cabbages or other brassicas in the same spot for at least two to three years. This strategy helps break the cycle and keeps your cabbage patch thriving.

#2. Companion Planting and Garden Allies

When growing cabbage, add onions, dill, or garlic to the mix – it helps keep pests at bay.

In a healthy garden world, keeping the cabbageworm crew in check means less trouble for your plants. The good news? Natural heroes like beetles, spiders, lacewings, and predatory wasps love to feast on these worms.

Birds also fancy a meal of worms, but they sometimes struggle to find them under big leaves. They’re better at catching adult moths and butterflies. If you’ve got chickens or guinea hens, consider them your garden’s little protectors, keeping the cabbage worm population in check.

Encourage these helpful insects by planting companion plants strategically or bring them in by purchasing and releasing them into your garden. Just remember, if you do invite them over, make sure to have their favorite flowers and herbs around to make them feel at home. Otherwise, they might fly off to greener pastures.

Here’s a neat trick: certain fragrant herbs and flowers like thyme, dill, oregano, lavender, marigolds, onions, and garlic seem to scare off cabbage moths. Want to divert adult butterflies and moths away from your main crops? Try using flowers like nasturtiums as a ‘trap crop’ – it’s like a floral distraction strategy.

#3. Protecting Your Veggies with Floating Row Covers

Keep your veggies safe from cabbage pests by using plant covers. Floating row covers are handy tools, especially for leafy brassicas that don’t need pollinators. If pests can’t reach your plants, they can’t munch on them or cause trouble!

These covers work well for individual plants, raised beds, or containers – just make sure you have the right gear. Typically, row covers are held up by hoop structures, often made from DIY materials like PVC piping, supporting insect netting.

In containers, a tomato cage can serve as the support for the netting. No matter the setup, the netting is easy to remove when it’s time for harvesting or tending to your garden.

#4. Colorful Defense: Planting Purple and Red Varieties

Consider adding some vibrant colors to your garden by choosing red and purple cabbage. Interestingly, these colorful varieties seem to attract fewer pests. Many gardeners share their experiences, noting that red cabbage and red kale suffer less damage compared to their green counterparts.

One possible reason is that small green cabbage worms struggle to hide on purple or red plants, giving predators an upper hand in finding and snacking on them. There’s also a hint that anthocyanin, the antioxidant in red and purple veggies, might be mildly toxic to caterpillars.

Hey there, fellow gardeners! Today, let’s talk about the cavalry of the gardening world – the natural predators that can give those pesky cabbage worms a run for their money.

#5. Encouraging Beneficial Insects

Meet the garden’s little warriors: parasitic wasps and ladybugs. These tiny superheroes are like the pest control squad of your dreams. Parasitic wasps may sound intimidating, but they’re your allies, laying their eggs on cabbageworm larvae.

As those eggs hatch, they chow down on the cabbage worm, saving your precious cabbages. Ladybugs, on the other hand, have a gourmet taste for aphids and other pests. By attracting these beneficial insects, you’re building a natural defense system right in your garden.

Planting certain flowers and herbs in and around your cabbage patch acts like a welcome mat for them. Marigolds, dill, and cilantro are like a five-star resort for beneficial insects. They not only attract these tiny warriors but also provide them with food and shelter. It’s a win-win – your garden gets bodyguards, and the insects get a cozy spot to hang out.

#6. Using Nematodes

Nematodes are microscopic worms that feast on the larvae of cabbage worms. It’s like having a ninja squad in your soil, working undercover to keep the pests in check. These tiny warriors don’t harm your plants, only the cabbage worms, making them the perfect biological control agents.

Now, you might be wondering how to recruit these silent warriors. It’s simple – nematodes can be purchased as a soil treatment. Mix them with water and apply them to your soil. The nematodes will do their thing, hunting down cabbage worm larvae and ensuring a pest-free garden. It’s a natural and effective way to keep those cabbage worms at bay.

#7. Decoy Moths: A Tricky Tactic

Here’s a quirky tip: some gardeners believe in decoy moths. Adult cabbage white butterflies, it seems, are territorial and avoid plants where they spot others of their kind. You can try placing dummy white butterflies around your garden beds. It’s worth a shot, but it’s wise to combine this trick with a couple of other strategies for better results.

#8. Hands-On Approach: Removing Cabbage Worms

A great way to deal with those cabbage worms is to pick them off yourself. It’s super effective, especially if you have a small garden. Now, if you’re not a fan of dealing with squiggly pests like me, consider wearing gloves during this process!

To do this well, get close and personal with your plant leaves. Make a habit of checking your plants several times a week, focusing on the undersides of leaves or the back side of kale and other brassica greens.

These sneaky critters love hiding on the undersides of leaves, especially near the newest growth at the leaf center. They’re pros at blending in, cozying up against the leaf stem or big veins.

Squish them with your hands, or if you’re feeling generous, feed them to chickens. Another option is to drop them into a jar of soapy water. While you’re at it, keep an eye out for eggs. If you spot clusters of white or yellow dots, swipe them away with your finger. This way, they’ll be gone before they have a chance to hatch and cause trouble.

#9. Organic BT Spray: A Tough Solution

When the cabbage worm invasion gets out of control, consider using Botanical BT. This is a more robust method, and Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) is a natural bacteria found in the soil. Applying it as a foliar spray on your brassicas coats the leaves and branches.

When the caterpillars munched on them, Bt paralyzed their digestive system, leading to their demise. Look for Bt kurstaki for cabbage worms, and always choose an OMRI-certified product, following the instructions on the package.

#10. Neem Oil: Handle with Care

Neem oil is a versatile tool for organic gardeners, especially when dealing with pests like aphids, whiteflies, hornworms, and cabbage moths. It forms a protective layer on leaves and stems, preventing new cabbage worm eggs from hatching and making the leaves less appetizing.

Be cautious, though, as neem oil can harm beneficial insects. Use it sparingly, especially if you’ve introduced good bugs to your garden, and only when other methods aren’t doing the trick.

Final Thoughts

To tackle pesky cabbage worms, it’s smart to mix up your defenses. Using a variety of methods to manage these critters is your ticket to safeguarding your tasty brassicas this season. Adopting this mix-and-match approach to pest control gives you the best shot at success.

Creating a completely bug-free haven in your garden might be a stretch, but you can definitely make a difference. Keep in mind the aim here is finding harmony in your garden, not turning it into a sterile zone!