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Thanks to @RobotDiver for giving me this tip on cabbage moth protection on the cabbages. The idea is that since they are territorial (haven't read up on that yet) they will avoid approaching areas where one individual is already present. I put two of these in a row of 12 cabbage plants and we'll see what happens. Nothing to loose, since I otherwise use no other precautions since I stopped using BT innoculant a few years ago. 
#gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b
@gardening
@RobotDiver @gardening After some brief research, I find that this idea of them being territorial appears to be a myth. Nothing gained, nothing lost. We'll see what develops.
@richrollgardener interesting! First time I've heard about that
@richrollgardener @RobotDiver
I'll join the experiment. :)
@richrollgardener
That's an interesting tactic. 
Indeed if you watch them they seem to be quite choosy where they leg their eggs. And it's always a moderate amount of them. I think they really want to go sure that one breed gets the whole cabbage.
@richrollgardener @RobotDiver @gardening
Why did you stop using BT? Hubs and I are arguing about BT versus covering the brassicas.
My argument is covering is easier, his is that covering prevents the wasps from helping and sheds microplastics.
He's pro-insect so if there is a butterfly protection angle I'd love to hear it.
@MCDuncanLab @RobotDiver @gardening Stopped using BT just to save some money. I was going to cover with fleece but that proved to be more trouble than I was willing to go through. Cabbage just fends for itself and I still get a lot of cole slaw.
@richrollgardener @RobotDiver @gardening
Our brassicas turn to skeletons without some protection. One year, we had a yellowjacket nest in our garden. That was the best!
@richrollgardener what cool idea, looking forward to hearing how it went! Here it's a battle between slugs and cabbage whites mostly, so mine get coddled with a wool collar and fine mesh netting. There are a couple of sacrificial cabbages planted for butterflies but the slugs seem to be winning that one! (Zone 7-8a depending on whether the map was updated re climate change)
@marthasterias @richrollgardener
Tell me about the wool collar. We had a terrible slug problem last year. I resorted to going out every morning and picking slugs off of everything, like 1/2 lb of slugs on a bad day.
@MCDuncanLab @richrollgardener well... It's the only thing that seems to work to some degree...
When I spin from a fleece, I have bits that don't quite make it - neps, short bits and so on. I collect them all, and then I kind of pull them gently apart into a layer like... It looks like crop fleece. This then goes around my seedlings. It's also important that nothing else touches the seedling. A blade of grass becomes a slug bridge! Any sheep fleece will do. It's sticky.
@richrollgardener @RobotDiver @gardening
Please post updates! I am thinking of starting brassicas indoors in July for fall planting this year, planting into the not-yet assembled greenhouse/ coldframe in September.
The cabbage whites are relentless, covered, bt...I lose!
@richrollgardener The idea with the cabbage white decoys on brassicas was on Gardening Australia years ago.
I made dozens of them and it didn't work at all. Like you, I did the research later on to find out it's a myth.
I reckon, it's a case of "Don't believe everything they tell you on TV" - yes, Jerry Coleby-Williams of GA, I'm talking about you. 
@RobotDiver @gardening
@feinschmeckergarten @RobotDiver @gardening I'm going back to rigging up some fleece to cover them.
@richrollgardener I'm back to fleece, too, after trying BT last year. Like you, I find it too expensive + it doesn't feel right as an organic gardener to run around with a pump sprayer.
@RobotDiver @gardening