Cabbage White: Wanted Poster & Fighting the Caterpillars

In the following you can find out whether the caterpillar of the pest is poisonous, what development it goes through and how to fight the cabbage white butterfly.

The cabbage white eats the leaves of white cabbage, pointed cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi and various other types of cabbage that should actually end up on our plates. Despite the aesthetics of the white butterfly, vegetable gardeners want a surefire remedy against the insatiable caterpillars. We have compiled all the important information about the cabbage white butterfly for you, so that nothing stands in the way of effective prevention and control.

After a brief profile of the cabbage white butterfly, you will find information on the development and toxicity of the white butterfly in this article. We then go into detail about effective preventive measures and ways of combating them with home remedies, chemical and biological agents.

Recognizing cabbage white butterfly: Wanted poster

The table below shows the various stages of development, occurrence and damage of the cabbage white.

Taxonomy	Family Piridae, Genus Pieris
Occurrences	North Africa to Northern Europe, with us from the North German lowlands to the Alps
Forage Plants	Various cruciferous plants (Brassicaceae), which also include our cultivated cabbage varieties, rarely other plants
Butterflies	White to yellowish in color, maximum wingspan 6.5 cm, black spot on tip of forewings; diurnal, pollinate various wild and garden plants
Eggs	Bright yellow on the underside of the leaves of forage plants
Caterpillars	Green-yellow, with patterns of black spots and speckles; Body has short hair, no more than 4 cm long
Damage	Start with pitting, severe infestation leads to skeletonization of entire leaves; partly food in cabbages
doll	The so-called belt puppets hang freely on trunks or walls

Cabbage White: Poisonous Caterpillar?

When eating cabbage plants, the cabbage white caterpillars ingest various substances that humans cannot tolerate in large quantities, such as mustard oil glycosides. If these are split in the course of the caterpillar's metabolic processes, toxic substances such as isothiocyanates are produced. These irritate the mucous membranes and have a negative impact on the production of thyroid hormones. Cabbage white caterpillars contain these isothiocyanates, making them inedible to many predators. They themselves are immune to their effects. The substance is only toxic to humans in much higher concentrations, so touching and even eating small amounts of the caterpillars would be just as harmless as eating cabbage - because eating it also produces various slightly toxic degradation products in our body.

Tip Greater and Lesser Cabbage White: The Greater Cabbage White (Pieris brassicae) and the Lesser Cabbage White (Pieris rapae ) are visually very similar, but show differences in their distribution, food spectrum and feeding behavior. The caterpillar of Pieris rapae is also known as the "heartworm" because it likes to eat inside cabbages. In addition to cruciferous plants, the cabbage white also infests leeks, caper, candytuft and rocket. Due to the broader food spectrum, the small cabbage white is somewhat more widespread than the large cabbage white, whose diet is more exclusively based on cabbage plants. However, since the harmful effect and control are largely the same, no distinction is made between the species in the following.

Cabbage White Evolution

In Germany there are two to four generations per year, the first moths fly between April and June, the last in October at the latest. After laying the eggs, it takes about 14 days for the caterpillars to hatch, which then attack the foliage of the host plant. The main damage usually occurs in June and July. Pupation occurs after three to four weeks of feeding. The last generation overwinters in this form.

Prevention of cabbage white butterflies

To protect your plants, you don't have towaiting for an infestation: Some preventive measures will help keep the cabbage white butterfly away.

1. Plant intercropping instead of planting large areas with potential forage crops.
2. Make sure crop rotation is correct.
3. Strongly scented plants between the cabbage plants are supposed to distract the cabbage white from the scent of cabbage: thyme, mugwort, aniseed, tansy, sage, peppermint, tomatoes and extracts from these plants are supposed to help here.
4. The creation of beneficial insect habitats reduces the pressure of infestation: many songbirds devour the butterflies of the cabbage white butterfly and native parasitic wasp species parasitize the caterpillars and eggs.
5. Look for eggs under the leaves of forage plants as soon as you spot the white butterflies in your garden. In this way, a severe infestation can be prevented by taking action early.
6. If the infestation is low or if the area is small, eggs and caterpillars can be collected.
7. The cultures can be covered with nets in good time - i.e. before the moths fly. The mesh size should be a maximum of two millimeters and the nets must not have any holes.

Tip: If the netting has only taken place after the moths have flown, the cultures must be checked regularly and collected or treated.

Fighting Cabbage White

You can combat the cabbage white butterfly with household remedies, chemical or biological pesticides.

Control the cabbage white butterfly biologically

Biological control of cabbage whites is possible on the one hand with specifically settled beneficial insects, on the other hand with agents based on the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. Basically, the earlier you start fighting, the less damage will be done to your plants. The caterpillars of the small cabbage white also eat their way into cabbages and from this point on they can no longer be reached by plant protection measures.

A useful insect that can be used is the cabbage white parasitic wasp Cotesia glomerata. It parasitizes and kills the free-eating larvae of the cabbage white butterfly. It is quite specialized, the species Pieris brassicae is preferred to all other butterflies and also to the cabbage white. The latter has its own main parasite: the parasitic wasp Cotesia rubecula. Both types are used in the professional field to combatCabbage whites used, but are difficult to obtain for private users. However, since they are native to us and are attracted by the smell of the cabbage plants, we recommend designing your garden to promote beneficial insects as a powerful weapon against the cabbage white butterfly.

Another beneficial insect that can be used does not parasitize the larvae, but the eggs of both cabbage white species: namely the parasitic wasps of the genus Trichogramma. Available are sets containing eggs of different species, which then deal with several harmful butterflies. Trichogramma species lay their own eggs inside butterflies' eggs and the resulting larvae then feed on the contents.

Tip: Unfortunately, the use of parasitic wasps outdoors is often not efficient. The small braconid wasps migrate, are blown away by strong winds or are eaten by other insects and birds. Greenhouse use, on the other hand, is much more effective.

Insecticides based on Bacillus thuringiensis have proven themselves as biological agents outdoors. Permanent forms of the bacterium can be kept for a long time as a water-soluble powder and can be mixed with a little liquid to form a spray mixture. This is simply sprayed onto the cabbage white’s food plants. After rainfall and strong plant growth, the spray coating should be renewed. The effect of these agents is extremely gentle on the beneficial insects: The bacterial spores have to be ingested and only develop their toxic potential in the presence of certain enzymes that occur in the intestines of the target organisms - and in no other insect intestines. Our Plantura Zünslerfrei XenTari® contains exactly the strain of Bacillus thuriengiensis that fights the cabbage white butterfly. The application is very simple.

Application of our Plantura Zünslerfrei XenTaris® against the cabbage white butterfly:

• If you observe caterpillars or feeding damage, you should wet all host plants with the mixed Plantura Zünslerfrei XenTari® - do not miss the inner areas and undersides of the leaves
• Apply when the outside temperature is at least 15°C
• With a sachet from XenTari® you can treat around 33 m at a plant height of 50 cm²
• The application is ideally done with a spray bottle and when there is no wind
• Our Plantura Zünslerfrei XenTari® is harmless to humans; However, please note the information on safe use in the package insert

Chemical control of cabbage white butterflies

Various chemical agents are approved for controlling cabbage whites in the home garden. Some use the active ingredient azadirachtin, which can be isolated from the neem tree and is harmful to a variety of insects - most of which are beneficial to us. We assume that no responsible gardener would want to spread any of these toxins in their garden, so we will not go into detail about their use.

Fighting the cabbage white butterfly with home remedies

Unfortunately, if the infestation is serious, there are no home remedies to save your cabbage harvest. For this reason, the preventive application of the above tips at a sufficiently early stage is particularly important. Because moths and caterpillars appear throughout the growing season, you can apply these preventative measures throughout the growing season.

The cabbage white butterfly is not the only pest that likes to eat cabbage plants in the garden - the cabbage fly can also damage your cabbage harvest. In our special article you will learn how to recognize, prevent and combat the cabbage fly.