Weather
While the Sun is very quiet concerning sun spots we can expect another strong stream of sun winds from a large coronal hole hitting the Earth‘s Ionosphere from 13-15. July.
It seems all over the British Isles the weather forecast predicts unsettled weather starting around that period on Sunday night through to Wednesday with partly heavy showers and thunderstorms everywhere but at the same time restricted to local areas.
A low pressure frontal system will drive this weather form the Atlantic over the British Isles.
Middle of the week the hotter and drier weather will return for most of us for at least two weeks.
Watering your Plants
So, I tend to water heavily before rains coming. This is even more effective enow as the rains we have had so far were very light and helped to make better use of that precipitation on top of watering the garden.
Cabbage White Butterfly
It seems that since last week there is an infestation of butterflies, and they are very busy breeding and laying eggs on the plants of the Brassicaceae family.
The yellow eggs are usually found on the underside of the large leaves in clusters of about a 1m2 before they develop into caterpillar, which can easily decimate a crop in a weeks’ time before they form chrysalis to turn into a butterfly once more.
Regular Monitoring
Regular monitoring of plants will help with early detection, leading to a more effective control. It’s important to consider that despite being a pest, the cabbage white butterfly contributes to the ecosystem.
Handpicking
Squashing eggs and handpicking caterpillars is a simple method, particularly for small gardens. The eggs can easily be rubbed off.
Once the caterpillars have hatched the caterpillars can be seen all over the leaves and collected to make a ferment that could be used on affected plants before the next cycle of breeding starts possibly.
Physical Barriers
Physical barriers, like netting and other crop covers like fleece can prevent butterflies from laying eggs on vulnerable plants but prove often hard to manage particularly in exposed windy sites or when needing to tend to watering, weeding, thinning crops and top dressing.
Organic Pesticides
Organic pesticides, like Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), are effective when used correctly. Bt targets caterpillars without harming other insects or beneficial pollinators. It is most effective while caterpillars are young and best applied early to curtail large damage form mature caterpillars.
Biodynamic Measures
Collect the eggs and caterpillars (about 60 specimen).
Either ferment them and in warm water and after a month you can apply the liquid as liquid manure to outgrow the damage and also repel the butterflies or alternatively dry them and incinerate them and turn them into a homeopathic remedy repelling the butterflies.
Natural Predators
Predators like birds, spiders, and parasitic wasps, prey on the eggs, larvae, or pupae of the cabbage white butterfly
Encouraging these natural enemies in the garden is beneficial.
Companion Planting
- Leave weeds to go to seed to attract birds
- Allow weeds to grow to attract beneficial insects which can also help.
- Plant herbs like mint, lemon balm, rosemary, lavender etc. to distract the butterflies
- Plant other vegetables with strong odours with your brassicas like onions, garlic, leeks, celery, celeriac, etc.
- Plant flowering plants of the brassica family which feed the butterflies so they lay less eggs
- Plant a wide variety of flowering shrubs and ornamental borders to attract predators and a variety of insects Â
- Create insect breeding ‘hotels’ or Bugginham Palaces
As you can see you have to of options to reduce the damage of this beautiful butterfly. Generally speaking, a 20% damage is acceptable, but more becomes very disruptive to the plants’ growth and our need to harvest leaves that are intact.
Sowing time
With the moon ascending since Wednesday, it Is a very good time to sow your autumn and overwintering crops for outdoors.
On the 12. & 13. July it is a good time to sow your black radishes and other varieties of radishes, early carrot varieties and beetroot, turnips, rutabagas and kohlrabi (I sow them under earth constellation influence for bigger kohlrabi)
On the 14. July sow in seed flats all your biennial flowers like wallflowers, delphiniums, hollyhock, foxgloves, etc. to overwinter and flower next year.
On the 16. & 17. July sow all your autumn leaf crops either direct or better even with hot dry weather in seed flats to plant out later: Florence fennel, Chinese cabbage, Pak choi, spinach, lettuces, endives, radicchio, sugar loaf and onions
For overwintering: all the leafy Brassicaceae.
On the 18. & 19. July tend to your fruiting vegetables and sow the last bush beans if the ground is still moist enough.
Happy gardening and enjoy this beautiful summertime and weather
Hans-Günther
