Thuricide & Kale

My Kale is so full of holes.. actually i'd say 65% of it is eaten up before I have a chance to pick it.  I haven't used any pesticides on my garden this season and it's been really great.. even the tomato plants.. not a single horn worm.  It's just my poor brassicas!  I have some thuricide here.. should I mix som eup and spray the undersides of the kale leaves?  Is it really harmless to the human if you rinse it well after?

I can watch the white butterflies laying eggs, but they seem to go for Ruth's Tropaeolum (nasturtiums) rather than my Brassicae, so try Tropaeolum as a decoy plant instead.

Jennifer- it's one thing if you've seen caterpillars, if it's not caterpillars eating your kale the BT will do nothing. I know in my garden it's either snails or, more likely, flea beetles that destroy my kale, and they seem to come and go. See if you can figure out what it is. In the meantime, maybe a garlic/oil/soap solution to see if that helps?

I thought you used sticky boards for flea beetles.

Tereza Okava wrote:. . . BT . . .

BT? What's that? Bacillus thuringiensis?

Examine each kale leaves if you see sudden damages.
I grow Chinese cabbage in the fall, and it gets harder to spot caterpillars when cabbage starts heading. Thuricide will not work in that situation, so I rely on chopsticks to pick out the caterpillars and sacrifice some leaves for braconid wasps. I was excited when I spotted wasp cocoons for the first time last year.

Campbell Ritchie wrote:

Tereza Okava wrote:. . . BT . . .

BT? What's that? Bacillus thuringiensis?

Yes, Campbell. Thuricide is apparently a trade name (i'm not familiar with it and don't know if it has other stuff mixed in). BT is the biological control, a bacteria that affects the digestive system of caterpillars.

Thank you :)

Thanks for all the replies.  I believe all the damage is being done by caterpillars.  I look under the leaves and found some under each leave.  I've been picking htem off and they are doing better.  I haven't did the thuricide yet.