Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Does anybody know an Aquaponics Safe way to get rid of Cabbage worms. These little buggers are eating my beautiful plants. I was tempted to use the shotgun but that's not to plan safe. I pulled about a dozen from my plants but I'm sure I have more. On the good side free fish food.

I have seen on a few forums that dusting your plants with flour will kill them But I do not know how this will affect my system.

Dipel is what most people use. It contains Bacillus thuringiensis spores.

in the us you won't find dipel, but you should be able to get BT (bacillus thurgensis) at garden stores.. i used that and DE (diatomecous earth)
i've read the having eggshells in the gb may deter the moths.. they mistake the white shells for competitors or somethin..but i never tried it..
the larvae will bury themselves in the media.. i had moths hatching after i moved my system from outside to the basement, moved media by the bucket load.. cats had fun with them at least (the moths in the basement that is)

_________________
my basement system;
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=8354

Maybe just my area but I did find Dipel locally so it's possible that you'll be able to.

edit: You can find Ferti-lome Dipel dust on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss? ... dipel+dust and Ebay - http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/271322903781

Fake white butterflies some people use white egg shells.
The moth is looking for somewhere fresh to let her eggs go and thrive.
They dont like to lay eggs where there's competition.

_________________
its still all in my head.

Thanks guys so the BT won't be toxic to the fish. also is it organic approved. I thought I saw something saying it was.

http://www.suanola.com/gardens-gardeners/cultivation/dipel-dust/

Talc in the above product might be an irritant to the fish if you get carried away with applying it. Keep it on the plants not in the water. By the way, the version above does not appear to be listed as OMRI certified. As far as I can tell it's just Talc and BT spores which should be fine. Not all versions of BT are organic certified. There are versions out there that are OMRI certified if you need that.

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-5989-dipel-df-og-1-lb.aspx

My aquaponic broccoli had such bad cabbage worms that the plants were totally obliterated... But, I started feeding the worms to the fish and they devoured them! So that got me to thinking, why not plant broccoli and cabbage with the intention of attracting cabbage moths? The fish in the system now grow their own food! So that's what I do now. I have one grow bed with basil, oregano, and spearmint, and a second bed planted with brassicas just for growing cabbage worms!

That can have a double effect to weedeater. Having the pest growing in the area means that you will encourage predators of them, things like wasps who will collect them and eat them as well as other pests on your "good" plants..

_________________
www.havehomewilltravel.com
Life on the road