The other day I went out in the backyard to harvest some things from the garden and noticed white butterflies everywhere. It’s not uncommon to see butterflies here in summer. From the large multicolored beauties to the small blue ones that fly close to the ground they abound.
But there was so many white ones that it was unusual.
I’ve noticed them since then, but not nearly as many all at once. I searched online and decided they might be cabbage butterflies.
This year we had a few heads of cabbage growing outside our row cover. We direct sowed the cabbage seed way back in the winter in a cold frame. It was really just a test to see how they did. I thought if the seeds sprouted and grew that might be a new way to start cabbage plants instead of growing them inside.
On one of the windiest days of spring the top blew off the cold frame. We never did put it back, leaving the cabbage, beets, lettuce and radishes to grow if they would and they did for the most part.
We managed to use the cabbage even though worms attacked it. I wonder if my unusual yard full of white butterflies was caused by us growing a few cabbage outside of row cover.
Tipper
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Ed, I apologize for what I said yesterday, I am not far behind you (71) and have very bad arthritis knees and 3 bad discs in my back. Otherwise I guess I am physically ok, but I do have mental problems with depression. I have been in church all my life and know what the Bible says. I try hard to go on with my life without my wife, but because I am weak I do have problems missing her, especially in the late evening and during the night. I was told by the best orthopedic doctor in my area when I was in my 20’s I would be having problems getting around by the time I was 60. He knew what he was talking about, he grew up knowing my mother and her family and told me I had inherited the arthritis from them. I have worked doing hard manual labor jobs all of my life from my teenage years until I retired and that has probably contributed to having back problems. I still try to go on and stay active as much as I can, I can do anything I want too as long as I can sit. I just got home from a luncheon with many of my Michelin retired coworkers. I needed help getting around with my food tray and getting back to my car. I will tell you what my Granddaddy told me when I would be with him and would take my shirt off, you are hotter than me, he would have a long sleeve light colored cotton worked shirt on that would be soaked in sweet, he said this wet shirt keeps me feel cooler, I had a hard time understanding that.
I look forward each day to your comments. Again I apologize, I know I often complain about the hot dry summers we have been having, they are now worse than they use to be, yesterday I got a 5 minute shower while there were storms around my area.
not a bad sacrificial trade off –some cabbage damage for a beautiful thing of flight…..I so appreciate that you see beauty in everything you see because I too see what/how you see things but being unable to go much further than my apartment I no longer can get out and see all the glorious things I use to be able to see … your pictures and your videos (and the girls’s videos) allow me the luxury of seeing butterflies bugs flowers trees creeks crawdads hawks rainbows etc etc. may you receive a surprise heartwarming blessing today because some days we just deserve nice surprises
I would say you hit the nail on the head, Tipper.
I used to have a huge field of zinnias that attracted butterflies like no other flower can. We don’t see butterflies as often as we did when I was a child, especially the big colorful ones. The small yellow and white ones are probably the most common in my area, with the white ones often misidentified as a moth. I love butterflies regardless of their color.
Hi Tipper. I’m 99%sure those pretty little things are cabbage moths! I wrote a couple months ago about having my cabbage patch decimated by them. They devour Brassicas of all types. This year, however, I found a solution to them. I sprinkled ground cayenne pepper all over the plants. There are about a dozen moths in my yard, and they haven’t gone near the cabbage or the collards. I’m just thrilled to pieces! Of course, the pepper has to be refreshed after it rains, but that’s ok with me because I bought several jars (not little bottles). As an added benefit I found that squirrels stopped digging in my flower boxes after I laced the ground with the pepper. fist pump!!
I suspect you might be right about where the butterflies came from. I’ve never tried to find out where or when the worms turn into butterflies though. I would think maybe in the ground. I have a time with them when I plant cabbage or broccoli in the fall. I don’t have row covers and they work on them until it gets too cold which here means same as all of September.
I have never heard of a cabbage butterfly, but the picture you have looks like the color of cabbage. We have a beautiful pumpkin patch this year. But, every time a tiny pumpkin starts to form, something clips off the bloom and eats the tiny pumpkin. It looks like the bloom was cut off with scissors. We can’t figure out what’s doing it. We covered it with netting and shiny foil strips blowing around yesterday. Maybe that will help?? This also always happens when we plant pole beans too. As soon as the beautiful blooms start making a bean, something clips off the bloom and eats the bean. It’s a little frustrating, so we just quit trying to grow the beans. Oh well—we all have some kind of insect or animal struggles when it comes to gardening. Hope y’all have a great day! Stay cool.
Wow that sounds like a groundhog maybe…sure hope you find out what it is…
wonder if they’re moths instead of butterflies? usually moths are destructive as they lay eggs and the larvae eat stuff up. usually worms feed on the cabbage heads they’re small and gray and probably are actually caterpillar. look into the moths. There are some that will sting you ( caterpillar) they looked about like something artificial that you fish with.
Yes, probably. I didn’t even grow any this year after last year’s struggle. But I still see a just a few flitting around.
Couldn’t find any bronze fennel so I sacrificed my dill so the black swallowtails would have something to eat (not one cuke yet anyway) and they fly around as if to thank me. Beneficials are few and far between around here but I do have at least one assassin bug helping me fight the bean beetles and squash bugs. I watched him attack one. Impressive!
Haven’t seen white butterflies in some time. Used to see them quite often flitting around our backyard. But now that I’m in an apartment I don’t see such things as much. They look so pretty and delicate as they fly about.
That looks like the little white butterflies that flit around my garden looking for brassicas, but they are only one or two at a time. I can’t remember seeing them everywhere. My situation might not be typical and neither my memory.
Nothing to say about butterflies, have not seen many of any kind around here in the last few years. I remember as a kid there would always be butterflies around a mud hole during the summer months. There have been not been any mud holes either this year. I just read the old post from July 2017 titled “Lay By Time.” This brought back many memories of growing up in the 50 & 60’s . One member posted about putting Bull Dog soda (sody) around their corn by hand before a final plowing often rolling as much dirt as you could around the stalk, the deeper the stalk, the more roots. Bull Dog was the favorite brand in my area., I have a short pencil and notebook pad with the Bull Dog logo on them that belonged to my Granddaddy Kirby. Seems like lay by time was a time to slow down a little bit and have family reunions and church socials on Saturday evenings. But I don’t see how any farmer that grew cotton had a chance to slow down very much.
Tipper, that looks indeed like the cabbage butterfly who himself won’t eat your cabbage or mine, but the baby caterpillars certainly love the green stuff! I mean who wouldn’t love a jar of granny’s kraut or a pan of fried cabbage with some burn and singe? They certainly are pretty, but troublesome to the cabbage, kale, bok choy etc growers! I’ve got a few words to describe these butterflies and if you’ve heard cursing, well that’s a clue as to what I’m thinking. It seems we have to fight every critter seen and unseen just to a scrounge up a morsel to put between our gums…hard work, determination and perspiration, and big let downs are the sum of garden life… it ain’t for punks and sissies.
Probably is a cabbage white. Here in upper middle TN we get them every summer; we don’t grow cabbage though. Summer azure is one I love to see that is white underneath but bluish on top. They love to extract minerals from mud.
I would say yes! They are pretty to look at but the larvae do such damage to brassica plants, ugh. We battle them to a certain degree here. Diatomaceous earth does help keep them and the other bugs under control around here, so it gets used a lot.