How do I use by spray to kill cabbage worms?

[Purrfluff]

That's an excellent idea except I rather foolishly put rows in so close together that there is no room for garlic. And I don't have any garlic bulbs to plant. I tried planting garlic from the super market and that didn't work.

However, I did find some shallots at the grocery store that had begun to sprout. I bought those and planted them and they appear to be growing. Do you think shallots would accomplish the same thing?

I did plant some nasturtiums because I read they are a "trap crop" for imported cabbage worms. So far they haven't been touched. Possibly because the nasturtiums are much smaller than the brassicas and therefore are not as tempting. Also, the germination rate of the nasturtiums was pretty low.

I think this is because they have a hard seed coat. I tried soaking the seeds in water first. I may take a nail file to them next year and see if that helps.

 

[Vishu1708]

Okay. Did you peel each individual clove?

I dont know about shallots...... they also contain sulpher compounds so theoritically it should work.

Are you gonna file each and every individual seed?
That is gonna be a tedious process.

 

[Purrfluff]

For the supermarket garlic I did take each individual clove and try to plant it. But I think the stuff in the store gets hit with an anti-sprouting chemical. In fact, I got a couple of shallots from the same super market and they didn't sprout either.

The shallots that did grow were ones I found in a small asian grocery store with a friend. I happened to see some shallots that had sprouted (they had probably been there too long) so I bought them. And they have all continued to grow in the ground.

My rule of thumb is now this: If the bulb in the grocery store has started to sprout I can plant it. If not, just eat it.

As for the nasturtiums I did actually take a nail file to some of them. But the seed coats were quite hard and I gave up after a few of them. But I think it helped. Maybe. A little.

 

[Purrfluff]

I waited about eight days between BT sprayings and that was probably three days too many. The weather warmed up for a day and the cabbage moths were out in the force. I saw enough eggs for an army. I hit the plants with BT and I think that kept the damage to a minimum.

The cabbage worms have definitely taken their toll. But not many leaves are skeletonized so I guess that is a victory. Rain is expected this week starting on Tuesday. A spray of BT before and after heavy rain seems to help so I will attack the cabbage worms again on Monday.