[maverick]

I know that this subject has been covered a few times, but I just wanted some of your thoughts as to whether I'm wasting my time or whether I have a chance:-

It is my first year of growing and although I made sure my sprouts were netted from the start, I did not realise the 7mm rule  The butterflies have managed to get through and I now have lots of caterpillars.

I'm squishing them daily at the moment and each evening when I get home from work there are more! They've had a real go at the leaves, but I'm trying to convinvce myself that by getting rid of them daily, I'll manage to keep it under control so that I can harvest some sprouts (which are forming nicely at the moment).

Am I fighting a losing battle or do I have a chance? Will the numbers start to slow down as we head into September?

[sunshineband]

If you get rid of them daily you will win 

Also remember though to look out for the little clusters of orange eggs on the leaves and rub these off too. These are the Large White eggs that hatch into the yellow and black caterpillars. Unfortunately Small Whites lay single eggs, which are hard to see. These hatch into the brigth green caterpillars that stay solitary, and again are a bit harder to see as the are usually under the leaf, not on top.

Keep going, it's worth it..... and your net will keep the pigeons off 

[maverick]

Thanks Sunshineband - that's very encouraging.

I have both types of caterpillars. I've been rubbing off the eggs as I see them and finding the yellow and black caterpillars is a lot easier than finding the bright green ones which are very hard to see on the top young leaves of the sprouts!

I will go home this evening with a determined spring in my step to squish the little * 

[sunshineband]

Good luck 

[Elcie]

I am in exactly the same position as you and I am now checking all of my brassicas daily.  The 10mm net didn't work for me unfortunately so that is another lesson learned for next year.  I started squishing them but now I carry around a bucket with a small amount of water in it and drop them into there.  Not as yucky as squishing and they appear to die as soon as they hit the water.

[Stevens706]

I had the same problem last year when I got back from holiday the caterpillars had decimated my sprouts, I kept killing them every time I went down, however the plants recovered and still produced a good crop. So don’t worry keep removing them and everything will be OK. 

[m1ckz]

same here with cabbage,,hundreds ,,i used bugclear,,next day nothing , no sign of a catterpiller since

[maverick]

Thanks for all your replies - it is very encouraging to know that if I keep killing them, my sprouts should survive 

I think the kids would rather I drop the caterpillars into water rather than squishing them, so I may give that a go