I have about 5 collard green plants in my garden. On only one of them something is completely eating all of the leaves. Though maybe 15 feet away there are more collard green plants and they are fine, no signs at all of any problems. On the one the leaves are completly eaten to the stems.
I do not see any type of bugs on them at all. What should I look for and or do.
Any ideas Thank you
Look for cabbage loopers. Nuke'em with Sevin dust.
Snip off what's left of the damaged stems. Look under the remaining leaves for bugs, and especially for a coating of grey eggs. If you see the grey stuff, it's usually NOT on all the leaves. If it's just on a few, cut those leaves off and put them in your trash can. If many leaves are effected, take a bowl of soapy water out to the garden. Dip your hands in it and rub the eggs off the leaves. Wear cheap surgical gloves if you don't like the idea of touching the eggs. When done, rinse the soap off the plants.
The cabbage family, including collards, contains stuff that may increase your resistance to various cancers. It's goofy to spray them with chemicals which may CAUSE cancer or other disorders.
Finally, if your other 4 plants are unaffected by whatever pest is eating the 5th, you might just want to chalk it up to luck. 20% loss isn't that bad. And, many bugs are only a problem for a short time each season. Put some minimal effort into annoying them and they may be gone shortly, anyway.
Thanks for the reply, looks like i might have to use Sevin. I was also wondering if there was something I could plant next to the collard greens that might prevent this bug.
Craig
Some people claim that marigolds planted around the perimeter of your garden will attract japanese beetles and other chewing and sucking insects away from your desirable plants. Personally, I've never had any luck with this.
Yes I have marigolds around the garden and it might work to some degree, but this problem is more severe I think then some marigolds are going to help. I did some searching on cabbage loopers and found that Bt is very good at getting rid of them. And it is non toxic to humans. I am trying to keep the chemicals out of the garden and so far it has worked well except this year and this problem. So I think I will try the Bt and spray the collards and brocolli with it and see what happens. Everything I have read is very positive about Bt.
Craig
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