Cabbage moths, slugs, and composting chop/drop

It’s my first year in this location and I wanted to wait and see if cabbage moth was a big issue before I went to the trouble of row covering.

Oh boy are they an issue. It’s not really the end of the world, I hand pick off what I can while harvesting then soak and agitate a long time until no new caterpillars appear in the wash water. I’m also boiling my brocolli rather than steaming (or prior to stir frying) because that will sometimes coax a few more out. But all of this is energy intensive and annoying.

I don’t like to use sprays or pesticides, and am planning on a row cover for next years crop. That said, I read that the larva overwinter as well. My brassicas are spread everywhere and I don’t have a new spot to start them next year. I had planned to chop and drop the remaining brassicas in fall and leave them in their beds to break down. Now I’m thinking this is a bad idea. Should I put them in compost, or maybe around my fruit trees? If they are badly infested, should I bury or burn them? What’s the best way to break the infestation cycle?

I assume even if some overwinter the damage will be greatly reduced with row cover to ensure no new cabbage moths can enter and lay eggs.

Also same question, but slugs. I am in the process of moving a bunch of hostas (the slugs preferred plants in my gardens) and using them as trap plants. I have diatomaceous earth but like to use it sparingly since it kills all my insect friends. These are different slugs than I’m used to by the way. Fully grown they are only about an inch. When they’re smaller they’re tedious to pick off, about the size of lentil or smaller. Garden slugs where I grew up were banana slugs- easy to spot, easy to pickup, big enough to be a household pet. So, how do you break the slug cycle?

We are in NW Ontario zone 1b-2a and have the same slug issues and worm issues on brassicas as you do.  We attempted row covers in this new cabbage bed along with white dutch clover as a living mulch.  The worms made their way in the row cover and eventually populated most of our 12 cabbage plants, but the damage seemed minimal and gave me hope that the plant would become strong enough to still provide a decent harvest.  There is also dwarf curled kale growing among them and they have very little damage if any from the bugs compared to the cabbage.  We decided to remove the cover a week or two ago since it seemed the damage was already done, but some cabbage have really been chomped on over the last week by what we assume are mostly slugs.  I am getting worried.  I've been away for a week and the damage is getting bad (see the last pictures below).  All I can think to do is hand pick the slugs in the morning.  Can we feed them to our neighbours chickens?  Maybe there is a kind of bird that loves them that we can encourage to hang around?  It seems really hopeless, I often wonder why so few talk about it.  Where can you grow cabbage successfully without pesticides?  Maybe we're doing something really wrong.  

I'm in NW Ontario too so I can speak to some of your challenges. You have a lot going on based on your photos in addition to caterpillars..

In our climate flea beetles are really bad in spring, so we plant diversion crops of bok choi which take the hit for the team.

Then when the cabbage moth hits, we time out kale harvests for just after the eggs hatch. Our deliberate defoliation removes the insects and seems to be effective at managing the crop.

The cabbages can't be cut like kale, and it takes a while for the wasp population to build up to the point where they can manage the damage. We usually squash the big ones until we see that there are enough predators to keep everything in balance.

On the slugs, we used a ton of leaves as mulch in our garden beds, and although we've had a crazy drought this year, we keep finding frogs and toads hanging out in our garden beds.

We have had zero slug damage and I'm convinced it's because of the number of reptiles living in our garden.

Cool!  We have a small pond and have many frogs and toads and snakes around.  I imagine it takes nature a few years to rebalance itself once an area has been disturbed by man. I just hate the idea of picking slugs and getting rid of them somehow, just seems so unnatural and unfair to the slug that was probably living there first.  

Have you ever had success with row covers blocking the moth?  Is Bok Choi the most effective sacrificial crop that you've tried? I'm going to take note of this and definitely give some of these methods a go next spring, thanks, I have hope again.

Renee Belisle wrote:Have you ever had success with row covers blocking the moth?  Is Bok Choi the most effective sacrificial crop that you've tried? I'm going to take note of this and definitely give some of these methods a go next spring, thanks, I have hope again.

Funny... I keep trying to grow bok choy but it inevitably gets devoured by something. I never thought of using it as a sacrificial... Until now! Thanks.

I was wondering if anyone has tried planting companion plants to keep away the pests?