DIY Organic Garden Pest Management

Hi friends! Are you noticing little holes in the leaves of your plants? If so, you might have little green worms called cabbage worms eating your plants! Cabbage worms can devour your crops entirely. I have found them on my dahlia leaves and my broccoli. These little green worms love cole crops and other brassicas, like broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower. If you notice little white moths flying around your flower or vegetable garden, there is a good chance you have cabbage worms munching on your plants or you will have cabbage worms feasting soon.

I had a cabbage worm problem on my broccoli when we got back from a camping trip. I have managed it now, but as you can see, my broccoli leaves look a little rough with holes and some leaves eaten clean off.

I’ve got some persistent little white moths called cabbage moths that love laying eggs on my broccoli. The eggs are usually on the underside of the leaves, but sometimes on the top as well. In this photo you can see two tiny little eggs, which will turn into tiny little green caterpillars that are even harder to see.

Upon further inspection, I found a few more eggs on the undersides of some leaves.

I don’t want these eggs to hatch, so without using chemicals, let’s get rid of them! I just use tape and keep a little garbage bucket handy.

I just rip off a good size piece of tape long enough to wrap around two of my fingers.

With the sticky side out, I go through my whole plant and just stick the tape to the top and bottom of each leaf, stem and trunk of the plant.

I’ve been inspecting my broccoli plants weekly and using the tape when I see more than a few eggs for maintenance, so I collected mostly eggs this go around.

I did pick up one small caterpillar so tiny that I definitely would have missed it without the tape.

While I was out here, I also saw a huddle of Japanese beetles on the top of this broccoli leaf, so I knocked them into a bowl of soapy water. Japanese beetles are considered a destructive plant pest, as well as destructive to beneficial insects and pollinators. It’s important not to squish them, because the scent will just attract more of them to come. When knocked into soapy water, they drown quickly.

It took me about 10 minutes to go through my one big broccoli plant and four smaller ones. I just toss my tape wod into the garbage can when I’m done.

Most garden pests can be managed with tape like this, especially if caught at the egg stage, so make sure you are inspecting the leaves, stems and trunks of plants in your gardens often!

That’s it! My garden is left to thrive without unnecessary chemicals! Actually, it probably would have taken the same amount of time for me to spray my garden with a chemical that it took me to remove these eggs with tape. With the tape, I know exactly what I removed, and no beneficial insects were harmed, unlike a chemical treatment.

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