Sprouts - major issues

Hi everyone, I had a net over my sprouts to prevent the leaves being eaten by butterflies but I think the square were too large & some still managed to get in. However, in recent days the leaves have been entirely stripped by something & on closer inspection it looks like there are a lot of tiny little black things like eggs or droppings :euw: I have no idea whats going on, the little sprouts were growing really well & I was looking forward to them!

 

"lot of tiny little black things like eggs or dropping"

Sounds like the droppings of caterpillars - which may be the exact same same of green as the plant and thus hard to find - but look closely, find and SQUISH!

 

That's awful! Judging by the amount of leaves they've eaten I'll be searching for an army of them, couldn't I just collect them & put them somewhere else rather than killing them? I know that sounds strange but I love butterflies :D

 

"Judging by the amount of leaves they've eaten I'll be searching for an army of them"

Don't you believe it! They make morbidly obese people's eating habits look anorexic!

"couldn't I just collect them & put them somewhere else rather than killing them"

Well, if you are asking my answer is "Absolutely not" :D I don't want your cabbage white butterflies attacking my Sprouts! And they are plain as a pikestaff anyway ... but if you want to send me your Red Admirals that's fine

 

" in recent days the leaves have been entirely stripped by something "

Good point John, if it is as bad as described. Although the "buds" for the sprouts will have formed, and maybe don't need to much in the way of leaf to mature?

But mine are netted so I've not made that experiment to have any basis to advise from

 

I'll have time for a proper search this evening, I removed two last night before it got too dark to see. It seems they have completely attacked three of the plants but some of them have been slightly spared so I may be able to salvage something, I'll take a pic if I get the chance & see whether or not they're worth leaving in the ground. How small do the nets need to be to stop the butterflies getting in?

Kristen, I'll remove all that I can see & give them directions to Suffolk, watch out if they make it across the Irish sea safely! :D I have plenty of red admirals these days as well, they seem to love my sunflowers.

Thanks for the advice!

 

"How small do the nets need to be to stop the butterflies getting in?"

I use scaffolder's debris netting from eBay. Some details on My Blog

 

Thanks Kristen, that's a fantastic system you have for your netting! I'll have to do the same next year. I took off at least 150 caterpillars yesterday & threw them into the forest next to my garden with plenty of old leaves :lollol:There were quite a few thinner black caterpillars as well, I'm sure I've missed quite a few because they really do have camouflage down to a fine art, but I've washed the plants & I'll just have to keep checking. Even on the worst affected plants there are still large parts of some leaves remaining so I might just give them a chance.

 

Sorry, but I don't think anyone where also advised you to remove any eggs you see?

Hopefully there are none (sounds like they all hatched already :( ) but whilst checking it is good to remove the eggs. You'll be less squeamish about just rubbing them between your fingers. Usually the eggs are in clumps, on the undersides of the leaves, usually white or yellow, so easy to spot. However, sometimes they are laid individually - harder to spot :(