{"id":12988,"date":"2022-05-13T03:23:50","date_gmt":"2022-05-13T03:23:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ecofamilylife.com\/?p=12988"},"modified":"2022-05-13T03:25:33","modified_gmt":"2022-05-13T03:25:33","slug":"how-to-remove-green-worms-from-broccoli-and-cauliflower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecofamilylife.com\/garden\/how-to-remove-green-worms-from-broccoli-and-cauliflower\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Remove Green Worms from Broccoli and Cauliflower | 4 Easy Ways"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cabbage worms or the caterpillars of cabbage white butterfly look velvety, green and can quickly eat through your broccoli and cauliflower. These worms can quickly take over, eating holes in the leaves of brassicas. They can destroy leaves and slow the growth of broccoli and cauliflower plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Green worms or cabbage worms can be removed by hand from your broccoli and cauliflower, sprayed off with a hose or treated with a naturally occurring bacteria, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) which attacks the worms.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Green worms should be removed as soon as you see them because they can quickly eat through whole leaves. This will decrease the leaf area that the plant has to photosynthesize, which can slow the plant\u2019s growth or even kill young plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article will explore how to remove green worms from broccoli and cauliflower safely and naturally and ways to prevent them from attacking in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post may contain affiliate links. If you click one of these links and make a purchase, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. In addition, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 Ways to remove green worms from broccoli and cauliflower<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here are the top ways to remove green worms from broccoli and cauliflower. These ways are natural<\/a> and will not harm people or animals in your yard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Hand removal<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Wearing garden gloves you can gradually pick off the green worms from the plant one at a time. They can be quite sticky and will stick themselves to the leaves with a white substance that is tricky to remove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Always wear gloves if you are picking off caterpillars. They can be difficult to see because they are the same color as the leaves.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Inspect the leaves closely because they blend in perfectly with the leaf color. I found more than 12 caterpillars on my broccoli plant who had slowly been eating away at the leaves for 2 days. In this time they had removed almost 50% of the leaf coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is best to go back to the plant and check again the next day. You can see if there are any worms that you missed that are still eating the leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Pick them off with a stick<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

My preferred method to remove green worms from broccoli or cauliflower is to pick them off with a stick. Grab the stick and flick each caterpillar off. This keeps my hands away from them and means that I don\u2019t touch them at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Use a stick to flick the caterpillars off of the broccoli or cauliflower. Squish them with your shoe or feed them to chickens.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After removing the caterpillars, squash them with your foot, feed them to chickens or move them to an area of your yard far away from your brassicas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Spray them off with a hose<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Another way to remove green worms from your brassicas is to spray them off with your hose. Attach sprayer nozzle that has a jet function and quickly spray the leaves. Short, sharp sprays will dislodge the caterpillars flicking them onto the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Follow up by finding and squishing the caterpillars or give them to your chickens. This will naturally remove them from your yard is completely natural.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) can be used to treat caterpillars on your broccoli and cauliflower. Bt is a species of bacteria that naturally lives in soil and makes proteins that are toxic to some insects when eaten, including caterpillars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is sold as a spray that can be diluted and sprayed onto your broccoli and cauliflower plants. It will get rid of the caterpillars over the next few days. Repeat the treatment until the caterpillars are gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out Bt spray from Amazon here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a>\"\"\n\n\n\n

For more on how to deal with green worms on broccoli and cauliflower, check out this video below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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