Swede Midge

Just wondering If anyone out there has to deal with this horrid pest!! All my purple sprouting broccoli and cabbages copped it last year!! this year I planted cauli, broccoli, and cabbage in a new plot far away from the pest last year! went to inspect the patch today and the b***** things are back!!! I'm soooo upset, all the crops were doing sooo well!

Biscombe, wish I knew more about your weather/climate there but am just wondering, isn't it too early for midges to be out? Just guessing here! It usually takes a bit of warm weather for them to appear, then again, you must be in a zone much warmer than what I'm thinking.

The larvae can be dealt with using Bt or even a soap/alcohol spray. (Or if you are not 'organic' then a product containing carbaryl will certainly zap them.

Is there a chance you are witnessing "cabbage worms"? They do the same type of damage, look similar, and are also easily controlled with a safe product like Bt.

Shoe

Heres a pic from last year!! Thanks fro the reply shoe
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g220/Biscombe/P1010004.jpg

This message was edited Mar 16, 2007 4:40 AM

Ugh, that looks terrible!

We don't have them (yet) where I am, they are much further north and into Canada.

Since you've moved your patch away from last years and there should be no larva pupating in the ground of your new patch (yet) maybe you can try keeping the plants covered in row cover, keeping the adults from laying their eggs on your plants. Since those plants don't require pollination you could leave the covers on non-stop, eh?

Gosh, sure hope you get a harvest.

Shoe

Thanks Shoe, well, a lot of the cabbages are starting to heart up so I think (fingers crossed) they'll be ok. The broccoli however is not doing well, we've had to pull up 10 plants so far with only 3 plants left. I hate pulling them up but we can't afford for this problem to spread!! with 5 generations of swede midge in a season you have to act fast and pull! DOH!!!!!