Re: Broccoli Green Worms How to Get Rid of

[Gary Woods]

I have green worms on my broccoli.

BT AKA Bacillus Thurigensis works quite well. It's the spores of a disease that kills cabbage moth larvae (the green worms in question). The stuff I got is a powder you mix with water and spray on the plants. The worms stop feeding almost immediately after ingesting it, and die a few days later. Harmless to people, unless great-great-great grandpa was a cabbage moth. There are varieties that work well on potato beetles as well. You need to re-apply after a rain if there are still worms present. See also "bug juice," though the family may not want to use that blender for marguerites afterward...

Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at

Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1200' elevation. NY WO G

[Frank Miles]

They are probably the caterpillar of the cabbage moth. Hand-picking is usually enough for us; it's better to squish the small eggs usually deposited on the leaf undersides. Occasionally I send my moth-killer son out with a badminton racket to swipe at (and sometimes kill) the white moths. Another strategy is to cover the broccoli with a floating row cover (i.e. Reemay). And there are agents like BT (baccillus thuringensis [sp?]).

HTH --

-frank

[FDR]

Yellow Jacket type bees will eat them. Try encouraging their presence by growing white clover.

[V_coerulea]

[Lily]