Pests & diseases › Cabbage Loopers
Cabbage Loopers
Pale green caterpillars that arch their backs ('looping') as they move. Eat brassicas, lettuce, tomatoes, beans, peas.
Symptoms
- Pale green caterpillars that loop as they crawl
- Large ragged holes in leaves
- Bores into cabbage heads
- Damage similar to cabbage worms but loopers eat a wider range of crops
Lifecycle
Adult moth migrates north each spring. Multiple generations through fall.
What to do
- Bt spray — kills caterpillars only
- Spinosad
- Hand pick
- Encourage Trichogramma wasps
If it's bad
- Pyrethrin
Stop it coming back
- Floating row cover
- Pheromone traps for adult monitoring
Crops it goes for
Plan the plot, track every sowing, cook the harvest
Sowing reminders and harvest forecasts for your own frost dates, the Seed Tin, Scan Centre for any label or packet, and the Potty Mouth Garden Club. Free to start.