I'm usually a live-and-let-live kind of person, but when it comes to garden pests, I'm a search-and-destroy killer. And being organic, I'm not going to leave the dirty work up to any chemicals. No, when I flipped over a leaf to one of my cabbages and noticed these lime green caterpillars crawling all over, I grabbed a jar, threw down my gloves and spent two hours poring over the leaves. (Well, first I consulted a book to make sure they weren't good guys. They weren't.) The result? This creepy Jar of Death. Did I feel bad dousing them in rubbing alcohol? Yes. Was it enough to stop me? Nope. The real evil would have been for me to leave them writhing in the jar with the lid on in the summer heat.
Fortunately, it looks like the cabbage will be saved now that the loopers are gone. I gave another look-see tonight and only sentenced a handful more to a death sentence. Maybe handpicking really is the way to go...
or maybe my nasturtiums interplanted among the Brassicas finally attracted some beneficial insects...
or maybe the chickens are getting some extra protein in their diet.
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