hello all,my first time here so please be kind, I have grown a mixture of things srpouts, cabage, brocolie and sweads all were doing realy well, had taken my time to make sure all were covered well with netting then we went away for a week about a month ago and while away catapilars moved in and have devoured the lot, my question may sound stupid but will these skelitol looking plants still grow or will I need to dig them up and start again, so annoyed as I had worked so hard and was very proud.
Hello & welcome to GC camelia. If they are completely stripped then there is little hope, sorry. Assuming the caterpillars have gone, and the growing tips are intact, plants do have a remarkable power of recovery and there is still a chance they could make new leaves. How big had they got?
sprouts were about 3ft and forming nice little buttons, brocolie and some cabages were only young had onlyput them in a couple of months ago,sweeds were getting quite big but not quite big enough to harvest, funny though catapillars not touched my runner beans and french beans there still fine, (thank goodness,) must'nt grumble I'v had a reasonable crop of most things dispite the poor summer,my motto look on the bright side and try again next year, thanks cath
Ive never seen so many, im squishing at least 10 every 2 days on my broccoli plants, the little blighters!
sorry cant do sqishing makes my stomach turn over thinking about it ,will give in and let them have their way !!!!!!
I was squishing with abandon - they're kinda like tubes of green toothpaste - but I'm a bit more selective now. Obviously cabbage whites can go, and also some bright green things, both of which I've had by the hundred. But I've (ahem) lobbed the less common ones over the fence (well, they don't grow veggies!) to at least give them a chance of survival. One of my nephews found an enormous one, believed to be a hawk moth, at Big Sister(2)'s allotment, to much excitement...
