Animal Advocacy killing caterpillars?

[Ansciess]

(probably this would be better in an animal rights/welfare/ethics section but I never look down there so I don't know if anyone else will either)...

I have a garden that mostly consists of greens like kale, collards, chard and a couple other things. I put a decent amount of time into it, and money into new organic soil. I noticed little white butterflies flying around occasionally and thought they were pretty great. I also noticed that the leaves of the greens were getting demolished by slugs. Turns out they aren't slugs, but caterpillars that turn into those little white butterflies...

I thought that they were just eating the kale and collards and was ready to just let them have those...but now I notice that they are eating the chard too. A few of my plants are nearly destroyed and there isn't a single leaf in my garden without lots of holes in it.

When I looked at natural ways to control the population I saw something called Bt which is a bacteria that is safe for animals but deadly to the caterpillars (it exploits the fact that their guts are alkaline rather than acidic). I have tried picking off the caterpillars and relocating them, but I can never seem to find more than one or two. I already have mint planted (which could be a deterrent). It's too late to put the plants under covers because the caterpillars are already living on them.

I considered using the Bt to save my plants until I saw that how it works is that it makes the caterpillars stop eating, then they die in a couple-few days. If they died right away maybe I could deal with that. I do spray the aphids with soapy water or they completely take over the garden (I lost my entire garden to aphids before). But the idea of a long starvation is pretty horrible to me and I don't think I can do it. But then I think I lose my garden.

Thoughts?

 

[Pickle Juice]

I don't suppose you can try any of this now, since you already have caterpillars, but in future you can try one or all of the following:

Cover your crops with netting or Remay.
When you see the butterflies, go out and look for their eggs on the undersides of the leaves and destroy them. Time consuming if you have lots of crops but it does work, and it is easier to spot the eggs than the caterpillars, since the caterpillars can crawl into nooks and crannies but the eggs are out in the open.
Plant nasturtiums as a sacrificial companion crop. The butterflies really seem to prefer to lay their eggs on nasturtiums if they are available, and nasturtiums are also edible. The leaves and flowers can be used like other leafy salad vegetables, and the buds can be pickled like capers.

If you need to get rid of the caterpillars now try the soap, or diatomaceous earth. I believe the soap will kill most insects, because it dissolves their fatty coating and causes them to die of dehydration. Diatomaceous earth is composed of tiny particles of silica derived from grinding diatoms, which are microscopic ocean plants. The tiny sharp fragments pierce the soft bodies of insects which also causes them to dehydrate. I guess you have to decide whether dying of starvation or dehydration is better or worse. There's just no pleasant way to kill insects, since most people do not care how it is done. That is why I preferred finding the eggs and destroying them. I don't feel so badly about squashing eggs.

 

[Ansciess]

Can't find any eggs. And as demolished as the garden is - not one leaf I can use in the whole garden - I can only find one little caterpillar each time I look. Frustrating.

 

[KLS52]

Sorry this is happening to your garden. I guess I should be glad that I don't have a green thumb or the ambition to plant a garden so that I don't have to deal with these kinds of dilemmas.

 

[mlp]

Can't find any eggs. And as demolished as the garden is - not one leaf I can use in the whole garden - I can only find one little caterpillar each time I look. Frustrating.

Do you have Japanese beetles in your area? They can lay a garden (or trees) to waste in record time.

 

[Ansciess]

No - I've never seen one in my garden. At this point I'm sure it's the cabbage worms that turn into white butterflies. Apparently they're voracious eaters too.

 

[Ansciess]

Yeah, I just can't kill those little green 'pillars. I saw one today and did a relocation (hopefully they can survive even if they're not on their favorite food), but I guess they're here to stay.

Not much of a gardener here.

 

[FortyTwo]

Yeah, I certainly see few dilemmas in squashing premature eggs but killing hatchlings is terrible. There's always next year, I guess. Sorry about your garden. Remember that they think it's theirs just as much as you think it's yours.

 

[Lord Snot]

I couldn't do it. I let the animals eat whichever bits of my garden they like and I take what's leftover.