Caterpillers!!!

i thought the same and let them eat every single leaf of my gooseberries. no butterflies. found out they grow into gooseberrie flies? next time might shake them off for the birds! maybe you could grow something you dont mind getting eaten and put them on that like nasturtians. i heard catterpillars like nasturtians so i grew loads this year but still no butterflies. im very envious of people who have butterflies in their garden. apparently butterflies are very fussy about where they set up a colony the conditions have to be just right. good luck with yours.

The butterflys are white, they have a black dot on their wings, I will grow nasturtians. I grew french marigolds hoping that would do it this year, they like my veggies better.

I think they are cabbage butterflies. Maybe google and find out if there is something else they will eat.

They will eat nasturtians. And ive just read that some people dust their veg with flour to keep them off.

I will do, there must be something, I am gonna try nasturtians though, they are pretty

If you want to eat your cabbage you need to take them off the plants and look for them at a very early stage. The birds will eat them, or put them on other plants. We have lots of butterflies in our garden. The only thing I do is grow flowers and shrubs that they like.

They have eaten my Brocolli and my Nasturtians. They had better grow into beautiful butterflies thats all I can say.

I think I also am going to plant a budlia as well as nasturtians, there are (really not fibbing) about a million caterpillars in me veg patch

Thanks for all your replies :-)

angie have you read earlier questions on caterpillars - people have suggested fleese and nets over your veg in spring so that butterflies lay on nasturtians instead.

I havent :-) I will read them, thank you :-) I think I have learned a big lesson this year and will have to be a lot more organised next year, I am still amazed how these little creatures find your stuff, I only have a little patch! but hey this year my patch has probably doubled the population it seems he he x

thank you hedgehogg :-)

I am growing assysum with my nasturtians and they are thriving.
Maeve