Folk remedies for cabbage pests

Cabbage pest control products are quite widely represented on the market for gardening products. One problem: they are based on chemical compounds of varying degrees of toxicity. Despite the assurances of experts that when used correctly, these compounds are harmless to humans, gardeners are rightfully wary of chemical insecticides.

How to grow cabbage without chemicals?
Prevention of cabbage pests
There are aphids on the cabbage
Bugs appeared in cabbage
Cabbage eaten by slugs and snails
Cabbage fly: the invisible enemy
About the shortcomings of folk remedies

How to grow cabbage without chemicals?

Prevention of cabbage pests

Simple measures can help prevent the appearance of cabbage pests:

thorough cleaning and disposal (best of all - burning) of plant residues after harvesting cabbage;
digging and leveling the soil (in autumn);
If possible, plant seedlings early in the ground so that they have time to get stronger before pests appear;
protecting cabbage beds with covering materials: this is the easiest way to avoid the attack of the cruciferous flea beetle and prevent white butterflies from laying eggs, from which caterpillars will then appear;
in spring and summer - weeding out weeds related to cabbage: cress, shepherd's purse, field grass. Cabbage pests settle on them and are subsequently transferred to the beds.

The net protects the cabbage from butterflies.

protect cabbage from pests at the stage of planting in the ground by planting other garden plants nearby.

Garlic. It releases volatile substances that repel cabbage flies;
Dill or tomatoes. Prevents the appearance of cabbage aphids.
Sage repels the cabbage cutworm with its scent.
Borage (borage) protects against slug attacks.
Wormwood, mint and tansy repel cabbage flies and cabbage white caterpillars.

Unfortunately, prevention does not guarantee 100% protection of cabbage from pests, so be prepared to regularly inspect your plantings for uninvited guests.

Reviews from gardeners

Experienced gardeners use not only well-known folk recipes, but also constantly try new ways to protect their crops.

Thus, Alexander’s article in a magazine about gardening describes an interesting way to combat aphids: “I remember that my grandfather fought in a rather original way against the invasion of aphids on the cabbage crop. First, he dissolved 1 tbsp in 3 liters of warm water. l. soap shavings (I took any soap, even baby soap). And then I added 30 ml of valerian to this solution and sprayed it on the cabbage.”

pest control of cabbage

Olga talks about her methods of fighting the mole cricket: “First, before planting, I look for the mole cricket’s passages in the ground and fill them with hot water. After this, the mole cricket crawls to the surface on its own, and I catch it with my hands. Medvedka does not like chrysanthemums and lilies of the valley, so when planting seedlings in open ground, I wrap the cabbage root with a leaf of one of these flowers. By the time the leaf rots in the ground, the cabbage root is already quite hard and too tough for the mole cricket.”

Natalya suggests what else can be done to scare away the mole cricket: “Since the mole cricket does not like noise, I always have metal pegs placed in my garden with metal drink cans on them. When the wind blows, the jars rattle, which repels pests.”

Svetlana shares her secrets for protecting young seedlings from flea beetles: “When transplanting young cabbage from a greenhouse to open ground, I cover it with a plastic bottle. To do this, I take a 2-2.5 liter bottle, cut off part of it at the neck, cut small holes on the sides for ventilation (5 pieces with a knife or a nail) and cover the cabbage with this design.

By the time the cabbage leaves rest against the bottom of the bottle, they have already become strong enough and the flea will no longer be able to gnaw them too much. However, to be on the safe side, immediately after removing the bottles from the cabbage, I spray the cabbage with a soap solution and then sprinkle ash on top.”

Advice! You can save the harvest from the cabbage butterfly by planting marigolds and nasturtiums along the edges of the area with cabbage.

Cabbage pests and folk remedies for them

There are aphids on the cabbage

White and brown dots appear on the leaves, the leaves become discolored, curl up, and the shoots and buds acquire a bluish-pink tint. The development of heads of cabbage is suspended, and cabbage begins to lag behind in growth. Clusters of aphids can be seen with the naked eye: these are gray-greenish creeping insects about 2 mm long, covered with a whitish waxy dust.

Aphids on cabbage.

How to treat cabbage against aphids? Traditional methods

If the cabbage plantings are small, and aphid colonies were noticed early, simply wiping the leaves with a cloth with a solution of laundry soap (300-400 g of soap per 10 liters of water) can help. After a week, the procedure must be repeated.

Also, folk remedies for cabbage aphids include the following.

1. Infusion of tomato tops and onion peels.

For preparation you will need 0.5 kg of onion peels and 1.5 - 2 kg of tops or tomato shoots. The tops are brewed with 5 liters of boiling water and left for about 4 hours, then boiled for 3 hours, filtered and water is added in a 1:2 ratio. The husk is poured with hot water (about 2 liters) and left for no more than two days, after which another 2 liters of water and a little liquid soap are added. After this, both infusions are mixed and the resulting mixture is sprayed onto the cabbage.

2. An infusion of ash, tobacco dust, mustard and liquid soap.

Take a glass of tobacco dust and ash and a tablespoon of mustard and soap, pour hot water (10 l) and leave for a day. Tobacco dust is one of the most common pest repellents: it is harmless to plants and humans, inexpensive and easy to use.

3. Tobacco decoction.

Add 400-500 g of tobacco leaves to 2 liters of water, boil for 2 hours, then filter, add approx. 50 g of soap and dilute the resulting composition in a bucket of water.

4. A decoction of garlic, which is used as a universal remedy against most cabbage pests.

To prepare the decoction, take 700-800 g of garlic (preferably the bulbs along with the peel), pour 10 liters of boiling water and boil for 2 hours. Before watering, dilute with water in a 1:1 ratio.

Caterpillars have settled on cabbage.

The voracious caterpillars are the larvae of two types of butterflies: the cabbage moth and the well-known cabbage white moth. Small cutworm caterpillars most often live inside the head of cabbage, so a quick inspection of the cabbage may not immediately notice them.

Young cabbage in the garden after watering.

Folk remedies for caterpillars on cabbage

- infusion of ash and tar shampoo (soap): take a teaspoon of shampoo and 5 liters of water per glass of ash, leave for a day, then spray the cabbage;

- Sprinkle cabbage with baking soda;

- spraying tomato tops and onion peels with infusion . It can also be used to treat cabbage against aphids;

- manual collection of caterpillars (if you grow little cabbage);

- attracting wasps - natural enemies of caterpillars. Spraying cabbage with sweet water, diluted jam or syrup lures these predatory insects to the cabbage beds.

Sometimes you can come across advice to hang eggshells on cabbage beds. It is believed that it scares away butterflies: they supposedly mistake the shells for the wings of competitors who took the place earlier. There are no statistics confirming the effectiveness of this method, but it’s worth a try.

Bugs appeared in cabbage

Most often, cabbage plantings are attacked by tiny jumping bugs - blue, green, striped or black with a tint. These are different types of cruciferous flea beetle, one of the worst enemies of cabbage. The cruciferous flea beetle eats leaves and can very quickly leave them with only veins. It is dangerous for very young plants, because their leaves are soft and tender. The hard leaves of mature plants do not attract bugs, so the gardener's main task is to protect the seedlings until they get stronger. The first signs of cruciferous flea beetle damage are small holes in the leaves.

Damage to cabbage by the cruciferous flea beetle.

Folk remedies for cruciferous flea flea

- adding fir oil to the water for irrigation , the smell of which fleas cannot stand;

- watering with regular flea shampoo , which can be bought at a pet store;

- dusting of plantings with hot pepper , slaked lime, ash or a mixture of tobacco dust and ash in a 1:1 ratio. This should be done on wet leaves so that the product can adhere to them. After rain or watering, the protective layer must be renewed.

For spraying:

- infusion of chicken manure in a small concentration (1:20), aged for 6-7 days;

— infusion of ash and tar soap (shampoo);

- a mixture of garlic minced through a meat grinder (1 cup), tomato tops (1 cup) and liquid soap (1 tbsp.), diluted in 10 liters of water;

— tobacco infusion with added soap;

- vinegar , highly diluted with water (250 ml of 9% vinegar per bucket of water);

Damage to cabbage by pests.

Leaf beetles may also appear in cabbage - these are also beetles, but larger in size (up to 5 mm), dark green, with a metallic sheen. The cabbage leaf beetle gnaws quite large holes in the leaf or eats out indentations along the edge. It is recommended to treat cabbage against the leaf beetle with tobacco dust, slaked lime, ash, or a mixture of all of these ingredients.

Ash

This is my first choice against cabbage pests. And cabbage itself (especially in our highly acidic soils) benefits. I am especially pleased with the ease of use : it is enough to dust the plantings with sifted ash, best after watering, after dew or after rain. Disadvantage of this method: you need to repeat the treatment often , ideally every morning.
If you use this remedy occasionally, it will not work. You need to sprinkle the cabbage with ash very often, only then will it help the ash mix well with tobacco dust (1:1). This “powder” helps repel the cruciferous flea beetle, cabbage leaf beetle, cabbage fly and slugs. is also popular among summer : the ash is diluted with water, infused (from 2-3 hours to several days), soap is added for better adhesion of the product (either household or tar soap will do) and the plantings are sprayed. The infusion, unlike dry ash, “works” longer, so it makes sense to spend time preparing it.

Read also about how to use ash in the country:

Ash: how can it be useful to a summer resident

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Cabbage eaten by slugs and snails

These leisurely and deceptively harmless creatures can cause serious damage to cabbage. They feed mainly at night and gnaw holes and entire furrows in cabbage leaves.

Slugs and snails on cabbage.

How to remove slugs using folk remedies:

— Sprinkle the ground with mustard powder or crushed eggshells;

- remove the lower leaves so that slugs cannot crawl onto the head of cabbage from the ground, or build a special “collar” covering the lower part of the head of cabbage.

— spray the soil with infusion of hot pepper;

- water the cabbage with water with the addition of ammonia (50 ml per 5-6 liters of water), wait for the slugs to crawl out of the heads of cabbage and the ground, then repeat the procedure.

Protecting young cabbage from mole crickets and other pests.

What to do when aphids appear

An aphid attack can be identified by simple signs - the cabbage leaves will be curled, whitish or brown spots will appear on the surface, and soon after this the plant loses strength and dies.

The most effective and safe means of treatment against this pest are:

A solution of ordinary laundry soap - each plant will need to be thoroughly wiped with your hands. You need to take one block per bucket of warm, clean water; for convenience, you can grate it.
Infusion of tomato tops plus onion peels - often there are stepsons left after processing tomatoes; these green tops (about 2 kg) need to be mixed with onion peels and liquid washing gel. The ingredients are poured with boiling water (except soap) and infused for about 2 days; you can divide them into separate containers or mix them immediately. You need to treat the cabbage with the finished mixture.
Tobacco tincture - you need to take approximately a glass of regular smoking tobacco, mustard powder, as well as ash and any soap. All this is poured with warm water and left for a day in a dark place. It is better to add soap immediately before processing.

For reference!

You can also replace tobacco with shag - for half a kilo you need to take 2 liters of clean water, mix and heat without bringing to a boil (you should also add a little soap solution before watering).

The effectiveness of such methods depends on the number of insects - several treatments may be required.

Cabbage fly: the invisible enemy

The danger of the cabbage fly is that the results of the vital activity of its larvae become noticeable immediately, and the fly itself looks little different from the usual one. At the end of May, this insect lays eggs directly into the root collar of young cabbage or into the soil next to it. The hatched larvae penetrate the root system and provoke rotting and death of the roots. Signs of damage: wilted appearance of the plant, stunted growth, darkening of the lower leaf to a lead color.

It is useless to treat the cabbage itself against flies, because the larvae attack the underground part of the plant.

protect cabbage from flies without using chemical insecticides only by preventing the laying of eggs. To do this, sprinkle the ground around the cabbage with a mixture of naphthalene and sand (1:7) or tobacco dust with lime (1:1) in an amount of about 300 g per square meter. m.

Fighting cruciferous flea beetle

The cunning of the insect is that it is painted in a dark silver color and is hardly noticeable to the human eye. The flea is capable of jumping long distances and attacks seedlings and young cabbage leaves.

If you notice small round holes in the cabbage, you need to act as quickly as possible using the following methods:

you can first sprinkle the beds with ash, or even better, mix it with tobacco leaves or waste (after each irrigation with rain you will have to renew the protection);
You can add fir oil to the watering liquid (about 15 full drops per bucket);
plant garlic near cabbage seedlings - the smell repels fleas;
You need to dilute regular table vinegar in 10 liters of water and spray the leaves well on all sides with the mixture. It is better to do this before sunrise or sunset, as vinegar can cause burns.

Interesting!

For prevention, you need to cover young cabbage with a special non-woven material, this will prevent the flea beetle from attacking for a while; after the leaf has hardened, the cloth can be removed.

Chicken manure can also be used - dilute a small amount in water and water the plants.

From aphids

Cabbage aphids damage young plants. You can protect vegetables from pests in the following ways:

Prepare a complex infusion: mix 1 glass of ash, tobacco dust and 1 tbsp. l. liquid soap, mustard. Fill with a bucket of hot liquid (10 l), let it brew for a day. Strain and sprinkle the mixture over the heads of cabbage.
Dissolve 400 g of crushed soap in 10 liters of liquid. Treat the plants with the resulting soapy water using a spray bottle.
Make an ash-soap solution: pour boiling water (1 liter) over ash (1 tablespoon), stir and leave overnight. Strain, add liquid soap (a few drops), spray the cabbage with the product in the morning (at 5-6 o’clock), paying attention to the lower part of the leaves. The procedure should be repeated every other day.

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Prevention measures

In this article, we figured out how to spray cabbage against pests and how to properly prepare infusions and healing decoctions. However, it is much easier to prevent a problem than to fight it. A simple regular inspection of all plants from top to bottom will help you avoid a collision with an army of insects. The fight against cabbage pests found during inspections using folk remedies in most cases ends in victory for gardeners. However, in the battle with large colonies, it will most likely be impossible to do without chemicals.

Preparations for the destruction of caterpillars

How to get rid of caterpillars on cabbage with special preparations? Firstly, you should know that such funds are divided into two types:

chemical ones that kill caterpillars immediately after processing the heads of cabbage;
biological products that also have a detrimental effect on caterpillars, but destroy them within a few days.

But their main difference is not even the speed of action, but the time period during which it is not recommended to eat processed cabbage.

Biological products will not cause harm to humans and animals, but the use of chemicals can only be done in the early stages of planting a head of cabbage, since after treatment with them the vegetable cannot be eaten for three weeks or more.

In addition, the chemical may not be completely washed out during the season, and its residues will remain in the head of cabbage, which will later end up on the kitchen table. When cabbage is sprayed with biological preparations, it can be eaten within 2…3 days. How to treat cabbage against caterpillars?

Biological products that help cope with the invasion of caterpillars on cabbage include Verticillin, Actofit and its analogues: Aversectin-S and Avertin-N. They should be diluted strictly according to the attached instructions. By the way, these drugs have a detrimental effect on a whole range of pests not only on cabbage, but also on other vegetable crops.
Chemical preparations against caterpillars include Bankol, Fury, Iskra-M, Diazinon, Decis, Dimilin, etc.

It is recommended to carry out the treatment early in the morning or in the evening so that the cabbage does not get burned in sunny weather. Despite the fact that these products kill caterpillars in a fairly short time, it is better to play it safe and wait for days without rain so that treating cabbage against caterpillars is not done in vain.

What pests parasitize cabbage?

During its development, cabbage is constantly exposed to attacks by insect pests. They feed on the juice, leaves, stems, and roots of this crop. There are many insects that can quickly destroy seedlings that have just been planted in the garden. If pests damage the apical bud, the head will not set. Even an already formed head can rot if cabbage caterpillars get inside.

Chemical, biological preparations or simple folk remedies prepared at home help protect the cabbage bed from all kinds of insects. It is advisable to treat plants with insecticidal solutions that destroy several types of pests (adults and their larvae) at once.

Aphids are insects that feed on cabbage juice. This is a tiny, soft-bodied, light green insect that settles in colonies on the underside of leaves. Leaves affected by aphids turn yellow and wither. The plant stops growing and does not form heads well.

Thrips are elongated small brown insects that suck the juice from cabbage. The vital activity of pests is indicated by whitened leaves with an abundance of black spots on them from excrement. Subsequently, the affected leaves dry out. Thrips are most active in hot weather.

Cruciferous bugs are quite large insects with an orange-black color. They feed on cabbage juice. The leaves become covered with marble spots, turn yellow, and wither. The heads of cabbage grow poorly and become ugly. Bed bugs can destroy newly planted young seedlings.

The cabbage fly is an insect that is somewhat similar to a fly. At the very end of spring, it lays tiny eggs in the soil near the cabbage. The emerging larvae eat the roots of plants, make tunnels in the stems, which is why the leaves wither and fall to the ground.

The cabbage moth is a small butterfly with greyish-brown wings. Lays tiny eggs on the back of the leaves. The emerging greenish cabbage moth caterpillars eat the leaves and leave holes in them. They can bite into the head of cabbage and cause it to rot.

The white butterfly is a beautiful insect with white wings. It's actually a huge moth. It has black round spots on its wings. The butterfly lays eggs, from which spotted caterpillars emerge. They feed on cabbage leaves and make holes in them.

The cutworm is an inconspicuous light brown butterfly that flies only at night. The brown spotted caterpillars of this insect feed on juicy, young cabbage leaves. They chew holes in them. Caterpillars are capable of infiltrating a head of cabbage, ruining it, and causing it to rot.

Cruciferous flea beetles are small, jumping black bugs. They feed on young cabbage leaves. They are capable of destroying young seedlings growing in the garden. The round holes on the cabbage leaves indicate their vital activity.

Cabbage beds often suffer from an invasion of ants, mites, slugs, and mole crickets. The vital activity of insect pests is indicated by yellowed or suddenly withering leaves, holes and excrement in cabbage leaves, slow development and poor formation of heads.