Green Worms In Your Broccoli? Me too!
So yesterday morning I wake up, get my coffee and go to check on my garden like I do most mornings. I was especially concerned yesterday however, because of a heat wave that was going to hit us. I wanted to be sure that my veggies had enough water and didn’t burn.
You can imagine my surprise to see that something had been eating my broccoli and cauliflower. Flipping over the leaves revealed the dirty thief, little green worms. Amazed that this tiny little worm could cause so much damage I had to double check.
So off to my laptop I went to search Google. Sure enough other people have experienced the same problem. While there was mention of a bacteria that you can use to control these worms, most people think the best way to rid your broccoli of them is to pick them off.
So the last two nights I have been out with my flashlight picking worm. So far it has been working well. I am going to get rid of these green worms!
I’ll keep you posted. Please subscribe.
Posted: May 19th, 2008 under Organic Gardening.
Comments: 7
Comments
Comment from Sunbuddha
Time: June 5, 2008, 12:00 pm
WOW, thanks for that writeup. I googled it and found your blog looking for a solution for these little bastards that are eating the leaves and the heads of my beloved broccoli. I will start picking them off tonight, but won’t they return? Is this a battle I will be fighting all summer?
Comment from Mandy
Time: June 5, 2008, 12:58 pm
Hi Sunbuddha,
Thanks for stopping by! What I did was everyday first thing in the morning and at dusk I would pick them off for about a week. If at the end of the week you are still finding quite a few then keep doing it until you only find one or two. Now I go out about 3 times a week and inspect the leaves. Sometime I will find couple sometimes I won’t find any. Be sure to look on the underside of the leaves.
I found this method is very effective and not too time consuming.
However if you don’t have time to investigate that often or if you aren’t finding the picking method effective, there are a couple of other things you can try.
Mix about 2 tbsp of biodegradable soap with water in a squirt bottle. Spray on the top and underside of the leaves. This will kill the larvae. Be careful however because soap sprays have been know to burn plants if you apply too much.
Also Neem Oil is effective at keeping them away.
There is also something called Bacillus Thuringiensis, or BT. You can get it in a spray called Dipel.
I’ve never used it, so I can’t tell it works or not. I don’t know a whole lot about it, but I do know that a lot of organic gardeners recommend it. I would be careful when used around earthworms.
Good luck and I hope you will stop by again.
Comment from Anna
Time: June 5, 2008, 2:15 pm
I actually have this problem every year. I see the white moths floating away and I know I am going to have trouble. I used a product from Whole Foods then I used BT to stop them. My friend told me this year to use a red pepper spray will keep the moths away. I have seen this mixture on the web.
I am going to try a bowl of cedar mulch near the plants since cedar repells moths. My neighbor uses organic cedar mulch and she swears the moths won’t come near her broccoli. I was a little worried using mulch around my veggies even if they said it was organic, so I am trying a bowl with the mulch. We will see if it works this year…Anna http://www.green-talk.com
Comment from Mandy
Time: June 5, 2008, 2:44 pm
Hi Anna,
Fantastic idea about using cedar chips in a bowl around your broccoli! Let us know if it works. I am actually going to post a few more alternatives to commercial pesticides and the hot pepper spray is one of them. It works great for ants as well.
Thanks for the tips and I hope you will stop by often.
Comment from Anna
Time: June 5, 2008, 7:37 pm
Guess what I found on my broccoli today. I was too late with the cedar chips! I thougth I had time but I guess I was wrong. I rubbed off the little tikes and spray them with some sort of garlic spray.
If the spray does not work, I will try your soap idea.
I also found a baby slug in broad daylight, which is really weird since I only find them at night. I hate slugs. I do not know why they are around except for frogs to eat them!
Comment from Toni
Time: June 14, 2008, 3:53 pm
Thisis my first year of planting move then tomatoe, peppers, and basil. I have put in peas, broccoli, potatoes & watermelon. After reading these articals I am going to keep a very close eye on these darn worms and bug. Thak you all for your help.
With the prices of food these days it’s hard to keep up. I will be keeping some of what I have planted for my family but the rest will go to my food pantry that I am adminstrator of.
Comment from Lisa Sperry
Time: September 3, 2008, 1:52 pm
I was blanching broccoli to make soup a couple of weeks ago and noticed them in the hot water. Ick….are they harmful if ingested? They seem to be hard to see at first.
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