It’s no secret that white butterflies can damage your veggie garden and leave you wondering how to stop them from accessing your veggies. We have learnt over the years how to keep these little creatures out in a natural way and would like to share this information to all gardeners that are struggling with keeping white butterflies away.
Why keep white butterflies away from your veggie garden?
If you are growing any type of brassica vegetable such as BokChoy, broccoli, radishes, turnips, kale, mustard lettuce and cauliflower you will attract white butterflies. These white butterflies will lay their eggs on your plants leaves and the little caterpillars from the eggs will eat your plants leaving holes all over the leaves.
How to identify a white butterfly
Look for a small white butterfly that has one or two black dots on each wing.
The caterpillars are fully green with a yellow/orange thin line down their back.
How to prevent the white butterflies from getting to your vegetables
Most people think placing any net over their vegetables will keep out the butterflies. However, most net holes have enough space for the butterflies to squeeze through into your garden.
Likewise, if the net touches the plant in any way, the butterflies lay their eggs onto the plant through the net, meaning the caterpillars will form and eat your plants anyway.
Therefore, buying the right net will increase your chances of stopping the white butterflies taking over your veggie garden. That’s why mesh nets are our choice, as they have tiny holes that butterflies can’t climb through! We recommend buying quarantine mesh net from Mitre 10. It is a 4-meter-wide mesh net that can be brought per metre off their role in store.
Another great recyclable option is using your old net curtains to cover your plants instead of buying new mesh. This will prevent the net curtains from going into landfill, while helping your veggie garden grow without the insects.
For more of our gardening blogs check out “What can you plant during September to February in Auckland” or go here for our list of gardening blogs.
