Tag Archives: organic gardening

Do white plastic butterflies deter Cabbage White Butterflies?

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My latest YouTube video: “Do white plastic butterflies deter Cabbage White Butterflies?”

There’s a theory that says Cabbage White Butterflies are territorial. So if we deploy plastic white butterflies near our brassica plants does that mean Cabbage White Butterfly females won’t lay eggs on those plants?

Sounds good because no eggs means our brassica vegetables won’t be damaged by Cabbage White Butterfly caterpillars.

But are Cabbage White Butterflies territorial? Do these plastic mimics actually work?

Check out my the video to find out!

Here is the LINK to the article “Mothbusters: testing a common myth about a small butterfly”.

Controlling pear & cherry slug

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My latest YouTube video: “Controlling Pear and Cherry Slug – better late than never!”

Pear and cherry slugs (Caliroa cerasi) are quite easy to control. They dry out (dehydrate) readily – so sprinkling wood ash, cheap talcum powder, chalk or lime on them will work.

Timing is critical when dealing with this pest. Pear and cherry slug has 2 generations per year, and if you don’t control the first (spring) generation you will have a much bigger second (late summer) generation of larvae to deal with.

This year I got the timing wrong! I should have dealt with them in November, but didn’t get to them until mid-December. What will happen next?

 

NOTE: Some blog subscribers have commented that they can’t find a ‘like’ button (as mentioned in my videos) here on the blog. Unfortunately the ‘like’ button can only be found on YouTube itself. If you want to ‘like’ a video you need to view it on YouTube. If you don’t use YouTube, just drop me a comment here! It’s all a bit clunky at the moment, maybe things will improve in the future (fingers crossed).

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