Cabbage pestsappear throughout the growing season of vegetables and damage leaves, entire heads and roots. They weaken the plants and directly affect the quality of the crop. Some of them can cause complete plant death. Meetthe most dangerous cabbage pestsand learn how to effectively fight them. Descriptions of the feeding symptoms and photos of cabbage pests will help in identifying the perpetrator of the damage to the cabbage. Here are proven methods forcabbage pest control
Cabbage pests. Holes in leaves bitten by beetles
Fig. pixabay.com
Cabbage cream
Cabbage cream (Delia radicum) is one of the most dangerous cabbage pests that damages the roots of this vegetable. The adult cabbage leaf is gray in color. Its habit slightly resembles a housefly, but it is smaller (5.5 to 7.5 mm long). The larvae are white, legless, 4-6 mm long.
This common cabbage pest hibernates in the ground in the pupal stage.In spring, flies fly, the females laying eggs near the cabbage or directly on their root collar. The departure of the second-generation cabbage flies falls on the second half of July. The hatched larvae feed outside the main root.Cabbage root darkens and is devoid of lateral roots.The larvae of cabbage pulp feed in galleries drilled in the root neck tissues. The final part of the damaged cabbage root is dark and rotten, andthe cabbage leaves turn lead gray and may die
Adult insect and cabbage larvae
Fig. Rasbak (larvae) and AfroBrazilian (adult fly), CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
In garden cabbage cultivation, we should first reach fornatural methods of combating cabbage cream , such as:
- coordinate cultivation of cabbage with tomatoes or celery,
- covering the crop with a netwith a fine mesh of 1x1 mm or 1x1.5 mm. The mesh prevents the flies from getting into the cabbage and laying eggs. The mesh cover will do the job as long as the cabbage beds are carefully covered and the edges of the mesh are perfectly flush with the ground. Put on the net immediately after planting the cabbage seedlings on the flowerbed, and only remove it during the harvest season.
- applying cardboard flanges to the soilprotecting the soil around the root collar of the cabbage the center of the square, and a slightly larger hole in the center to accommodate the plant, then put it under the cabbage),
- spraying with tansy extract(300 g of fresh tansy herb or 30 g of dried herb, pour 10 liters of water and leave until the next day, after about 24 hours, dilute with water in a ratio of 1: 2 and spray the cabbage). Tansy spraying is performed during the flight of flies. The smell of tansy discourages insects from sitting on the cabbage and laying eggs.
If the above-mentioned natural methods prove to be insufficient, as a last resort, you can useplant protection agents to combat cabbage creamIn spring, during the flyover of cabbage fly, which falls on the period from from the end of April to the beginning of May, it is recommended to spray the plants with Karate Zeon 050 CS. The recommended dose for a single use of the preparation is 1.2 ml dissolved in 6 liters of water per 100 m².
Cabbage aphid
Cabbage aphid(Brevicoryne brassicae) - wingless pests most commonly found on the underside of the leaf, greenish-yellow in color, with a gray-blue coating.As a result of aphids' feeding, greenish-white spots appear on the leaves. Strongly infested with pests , the cabbage has twisted leaves and no headsor produces distorted, underdeveloped heads. The indirect harm of cabbage aphid is the transmission of viral diseases. Warm summers, rainless weather and low air humidity favor the development of aphids on cabbage.
Cabbage aphid
Fig. James Lindsey, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
The cabbage aphid hibernates in the form of black eggs on the leftover cabbagenot cleared from the bed or on wild plants of the cruciferous family. In spring, the larvae hatch, which transform into wingless females, giving rise to new generations.Aphids develop on the underside of the cabbage leaves and are easy to recognize
Natural control of aphids on cabbageconsists in:
- planting beans next to dwarf cabbage (the proximity of the beans prevents the occurrence of cabbage aphid),
- yellow sticky plates placed next to the cabbage,
- spraying with natural preparations prepared by yourself, such as: liquid manure or horsetail extract, garlic or onion extract or decoction,
- spraying with the natural preparation Emulpar 940 EC,
- removal of plant residues after the end of cultivation, which reduces the number of the wintering pest for the next year.
Possiblechemical aphid control on cabbageshould be started when pests are noticed, using agents with a short waiting period. Spraying Karate Zeon 050 CS, which is used at a dose of 1.2 ml per 6 liters of water, will work.
Peanuts on cabbage
The greatest damage to cabbage cultivation is caused by fleas of such species as: Black flea (Phyllotreta atra), Phyllotreta nemorum, and Black-legged flea (Phyllotreta nigripes).Earthen fleas are small beetles, up to 2.5 mm in length. They move in a characteristic jumping manner.These cabbage pests winterin the topsoil and leave their wintering grounds in spring and feed on young plants. Fleas especially attack cabbages grown directly into the ground. They eroderound or irregular holes in cabbage leavesHeavily damaged young plants are stunted in growth and die very often.
Streak flea
Fig. Udo Schmidt, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Natural remedies for cabbage fleas :
- covering the ground around the cabbage with a dense fleece. The non-woven fabric must cover the ground very tightly, we only leave holes for growing cabbage,
- planting between lettuce and spinach cabbages,
- yellow sticky plates mounted between the cabbages,
- spraying with tansy decoction (especially recommended in protecting cabbage seedlings against fleas),
- sprinkling and tapping the soil around the cabbage (only slightly reduces the presence of fleas),
- dusting plants with bas alt flour, which discourages fleas from nibbling into vegetable leaves.
Possiblecontrol of fleas with plant protection productsstarts immediately after noticing the symptoms of feeding. Among the plant protection products that can be usedfor spraying these cabbage pests , Karate Zeon 050 CS (use at a dose of 1.2 ml per 6 liters of water) and Deltam (at a dose of 4- 5 ml per 6 liters of water / 100 m² of cultivation)
Chrząszcz chowacze
Beetle beetles are pests that damage the aerial parts of cabbageAdult beetles and beetle larvae feed on cabbage at various stages of growth. The most common places on this vegetable are: the four-toothed shepherd dog (Ceutorhynchus quadridens) and the swallowtail beetle (Ceutorhynchus napi) are most harmful.Sometimes, on the cabbage there is also a goblet (Ceutorhynchus pleurostigma).
The four-toothed shepherd beetle is a dark gray beetle. Its larvae are legless, white with a brown head. These beetles gnaw holes in cabbage leaves.Holes can be seen in the leaf blades and petioles, and the larvae bite into the stem and eat away the coreAnd the swallowtail beetle is an ash beetle slightly larger than a four-toothed beetle.The beetles eat hollows on the leaves and the stem, and the larvae feed on the tips of the growth, shoots and petioles
In spring, the beetles eat into the lower parts of the cabbage stalk and lay their eggs there . Bile builds up around the eggs, often in many places in the plant. Destroyed cabbage growth cones do not form heads.
Thenatural methods of fighting beetles in cabbageinclude:
- removal of infested plants with yellow growths,
- scratch off single bile growths in mildly infected,
- wrap the cabbage with a tight cardboard collar, the same as we previously recommended to fight with cabbage cream.
In chemical protection of cabbage against beetlesit is recommended to spray seedlings on the seedbed and, if necessary, also directly after planting, with the same preparations as for flea control, i.e. Karate Zeon 050 CS and Deltam.
Bielinek cabbage soup
White-winged cabbage butterfly (Pieris brassicae) is a butterfly with white wings, the front of which have two and the rear one black spot. The tops of the pest's first pair of wings are also black. This characteristic appearance of the butterfly makes it easy to identify and apply appropriate control.The caterpillar of cabbage moth is yellow-green
White cabbage cabbage soup: 1st adult butterfly, 2nd eggs, 3rd caterpillar
Fig. pixabay.com
The departure of the butterflies takes place in May. The females lay their eggs on cruciferous weeds where hatched caterpillars prey. In July, new-generation butterflies fly out after pupation, andfemales lay eggs on the lower side of cruciferous leavesThe hatched caterpillars feed in groups, scraping the flesh, and then spread throughout the plant andskeleton of cabbage leaves, starting from the tops
Combating cabbage miteconsists in:
- collecting and removing tracks manually,
- planting cabbage in rows alternating with tomatoes and celery (the same as for combating cabbage cream),
- planting near cabbage the repellent herbs such as: hyssop, sage, thyme, lavender, marjoram, mint,
- performing ecological spraying of tansy and mugwort, as well as spraying with the biological preparation Lepinox Plus.
A proven method to combat the caterpillars of cabbage beetleis spraying with Lepinox Plus. It is a biological preparation containing the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. This bacterium infects the caterpillars of cabbage beetle, causing them to stop feeding immediately, and quickly die.
Spray Lepinox Plus with the preparation immediately after noticing the caterpillars on the cabbage.Lepinox Plus is safe for the environment, selective against beneficial insects, allowed for use in ecological gardens. The preparation for amateur use in gardens is sold in sachets of 10 g. Such a sachet should be dissolved in 5 liters of water, so it is adapted to the most popular capacity of a garden sprayer.
All these advantages makeLepinox Plus is the best preparation for fighting caterpillars in cabbage in home and allotment gardens.
Chemical control of cabbage cabbage isspraying the cabbage during the feeding period of the young stages of caterpillarswith the use of agents with a short grace period. You can use the same preparations that are used to combat cabbage aphid, e.g. the aforementioned Karate Zeon 050 CS at a dose of 1.2 ml per 6 liters of water.
Tantniś Krzyżowiaczek
Fig. Bj.schoenmakers, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons
Tantniś Krzyżowiaczek
The cruciferous mite (Plutella xylostella) is a cabbage pest which, like cabbage cabbage, is a butterfly. Caterpillars caterpillars from mid-summer to late autumn. They are green with black heads.On the cabbage leaves you can see small, round, often irregular windows, formed by scraping the lower skin and fleshAs the leaves grow, the upper skin, covering the windows, cracks and holes form. We fight the cruciferous moth in the same way as the cabbage moth , using the biological preparation Lepinox Plus or the chemical spraying of Karate Zeon 050 CS.
MSc Eng. Joanna Białowąs
