Caterpillars are still eating my broccoli.
I've just picked a few off and thrown them a long way away.
But I was amazed that there were any still about.
How long do they go on for?
Presumably they freeze solid eventually?
--
Chris

The message ]
from Chris ] contains these words:

Caterpillars are still eating my broccoli.
I've just picked a few off and thrown them a long way away.
But I was amazed that there were any still about.
How long do they go on for?
Presumably they freeze solid eventually?
--
Chris

I haven't looked for a week or so, but I had the same experience of
finding them and feeling surprised in about mid-November.
I'm sure they usually disappear earlier. Lack of hard frost, I imagine.

Janet G

In article , Janet Galpin and Oliver
Patterson writes
The message ]
from Chris ] contains these words:

Caterpillars are still eating my broccoli.
I've just picked a few off and thrown them a long way away.
But I was amazed that there were any still about.
How long do they go on for?
Presumably they freeze solid eventually?

I haven't looked for a week or so, but I had the same experience of
finding them and feeling surprised in about mid-November.
I'm sure they usually disappear earlier. Lack of hard frost, I imagine.

The nice thing about growing broccoli is that the problems have all
disappeared by the time you're eating it. So you don't have to spray at
all.
I let the caterpillars eat most of the leaves and it doesn't seem to
matter.
The plants still survive. Have others found this?
--
Chris

In article ], Chris ]
writes
Caterpillars are still eating my broccoli.
I've just picked a few off and thrown them a long way away.
But I was amazed that there were any still about.
How long do they go on for?
Presumably they freeze solid eventually?

They go on until they have eaten enough for the next stage in their
life-cycle! They are having a race with the weather. Caterpillars of the
white butterflies, the ones which are eating your broccoli, go through
four moults as they grow, over a period of about 20 days (Small White)
or 30 days (Large White), and then pupate, sometimes on a plant stem, or
more usually under a ledge of stone or wood on an adjacent wall or
fence. At this time of year, pupae will over-winter and hatch out next
spring. Any caterpillars caught by frost will die, but it is quite usual
for them to survive into December if the weather stays mild.

--
Malcolm

Hi Chris

The nice thing about growing broccoli is that the problems have all
disappeared by the time you're eating it. So you don't have to spray at
all.
I let the caterpillars eat most of the leaves and it doesn't seem to
matter.
The plants still survive. Have others found this?

Yes - same situation here.
Caterpillars happily munching on the leaves of the purple sprouting -
but, by the time we come to eat the sprouts the pests will be long gone.

I showed the caterpillars to the bantams - but they didn't seem interested!

Gave some purple sprouting plants to a neighbour last year - cropped well - asked
this year if they's like some more. Answer "No thanks - my husband got too
stressed trying to keep the caterpillars off them".

Odd ideas some people have about gardening, don't they?

Regards
Adrian
Suffolk UK

"Chris" ] wrote in message
news
Caterpillars are still eating my broccoli.
I've just picked a few off and thrown them a long way away.

This bit puzzles me, why on earth didn't you kill them?

The chances are that they would be back on your broccoli
before you turned round!

But I was amazed that there were any still about.

The weather has been very mild so far.

How long do they go on for?
Presumably they freeze solid eventually?

Alan
--
Reply to alan(at)windsor-berks(dot)freeserve(dot)co(dot)uk

In article , Alan Holmes
writes
"Chris" ] wrote in message
news
Caterpillars are still eating my broccoli.
I've just picked a few off and thrown them a long way away.

This bit puzzles me, why on earth didn't you kill them?
The chances are that they would be back on your broccoli
before you turned round!

I can't justify not killing them!
Sometimes one just acts in a particular manner without knowing why.
Then an attempt to answer a question like yours can result in post-hoc
rationalisation.
And ... in asking "Why?" you might be seeking an answer in terms of
causation; or an answer in terms of teleology.
Though ... you may in fact be saying, "Idiot!"
--
Chris

"Chris" ] wrote in message
]...
In article , Alan Holmes
writes
"Chris" ] wrote in message
news
Caterpillars are still eating my broccoli.
I've just picked a few off and thrown them a long way away.

This bit puzzles me, why on earth didn't you kill them?
The chances are that they would be back on your broccoli
before you turned round!

I can't justify not killing them!
Sometimes one just acts in a particular manner without knowing why.
Then an attempt to answer a question like yours can result in post-hoc
rationalisation.
And ... in asking "Why?" you might be seeking an answer in terms of
causation; or an answer in terms of teleology.
Though ... you may in fact be saying, "Idiot!"

Well, yes, but I'm not that forward!(:-)

Well, not often anyway!

Alan
--
Reply to alan(at)windsor-berks(dot)freeserve(dot)co(dot)uk

--
Chris