The single biggest issue, I have in my garden is heat. Following that are pests. Specially, pests on my cabbage or young seedlings. Bugs are always an issue in a organic garden. They may not be a massive concern for some because good gardening practice can eliminate many of those issue but they still exist. I kill them anyway I can. If I don’t then my seedlings and especially my cabbages would just disappear. This year is a a bit different because the winter got cold enough late enough to kill a bunch of bugs so I have not had to use any pesticides at all. That condition is changing as my cabbages are disappearing and turning into baby pests.

What Pests Are Eating My Cabbage?

In most places, we have the little white moths that float around on gusts of wind as little angels. At least that is what you think before trying to grow cabbage.

For the cabbage grower, this is the single most incestuous pest in the cabbage patch. It’s the White Moth or is darker night time cousin, the Cabbage Looper. This little guys lay eggs under the leaves then a small green worm appears and eats your leaves. The small holes in my bok choy is from those worms.

Now if your holes are bigger and uneven looking then it is likely snails or slugs in most climates. You can check under the leaves for trails. These come from the foot of these mollusks. Because of how arid my climate is, most years this is not generally an issue for me. When it is, it is really annoying.

How to tell if it is slugs, snails or something else?

If it is slugs and snails, they leave slime on the underside of the leaves. In my case there is not slime coat on the underside. There are big freaking holes in the leaves so something is eating them. Let me introduce you to one of the little buggers, I found in my bok choy.

What really decimates my cabbage is the earwig. These horror movie props, are the bane of my existence. There have been years where I will kill dozens of these things a day in and around my home. I have planted out entire beds of seedling to wake up to a garden full of stems. They love tender seedlings and they love cabbage. They work at night. Because they are more than cabbage pests, I take them more seriously.

Regardless of what it is eating, it ain’t a doll coming out my cabbage patch. It’s a 1950’s horror monster.

I Have Cabbage Pests So What Do I Do About Them?

Lets deal with each of these little pests, one at a time.

Cabbage Moths

The best and most effective way of wiping out these little bugs is biological warfare. You use BT. It is a bacteria that eats the cabbage moths’ little worm babies from the inside out. It is fun. This is how the science says to exterminate them. It works better on younger ones than older ones. This fact I was not excited to hear about from my extension office but is one that you should know.

You can spray neem oil, pyrethrin, or insect soaps. These are less effective as they need to get hit by the substance. The BT is a trap.

Speaking of traps the next way you can try to mess with these little buggers is to use a trap crop. These crops which are planted as sacrificial traps. The wives tale says that nasturtiums are the best since they are more desirable crop for the cabbage moths to rare their young. I don’t know if that is true but I have had significantly less issue despite them being plentiful in the garden this year.

If you don’t want to go the way of weapons of mass destruction nor do you want to tribute bad behavior, the next best thing is to add as many plants as you can to your garden. Make sure to add herbs. Lots of herbs. The more intense the smell the better. These things all have scents and it camouflages the smell of the cabbage. Does it work? I think it helps but I have never found a source from science that says it works. I keep looking for them.

Lastly, just plant more. They can’t eat them all. This is what I did this year.

Snails and Slugs

This is not much of a problem for me as my climate is pretty dry. On years that it is not, it becomes important to weed eat the edges of the raised beds and you want to have things be dry. This would be something that would make me pull my mulch off the beds. You do have to deal with watering more but you need to keep the area around your plants dry. Besides you are removing the mulch because it is so wet, you may not need it yet.

If you have slugs, you can use copper tape as they hate crossing copper. I suppose you could use pennies to stop them. That is something I should try the next time I have slugs. It would be a funny shot.

Earwigs

Like slugs and snails, earwig like moisture. If they become a big problem, then pull the mulch. You need to dry out. Otherwise you can make a roll of paper and stick them in the garden. Take them up in the morning as they use it as shelter from the sun, then into the soapy water they go. It is at best a very temporary patch.

You can also use bait cans so use tuna can with sardine oil, or soy sauce and oil. You then clean them every morning. They love the stink and the oil kills them. Again, something you have to work on ever couple of days.

I have heard that hot pepper can drive them off. I suspect this is not true but it is something, I have debated buying a ghost pepper plant or something and giving it a try. Make me up some homemade garden hot sauce. If you do try it, remember to wash everything well because otherwise your bok choy might be slightly more than you can handle.

Earwigs are the biggest reason that I am not a fully organic gardener. Sometimes, I have to get out the Sevin dust. Most of the time it is enough to do only once in late spring. Thankfully the winter was harsh enough temperature wise to eliminate most of the issue this year.

Alternative Applicable to All Cabbage Pests

Finally, you can just skip spring planting and wait until the end to plant in summer when all these things seem to be less active. It is too hot to do that here but somewhere it is likely an option.