CABBAGE LOOPER

Cabbage Looper

There is something seemingly cute and innocent about a little green caterpillar, isn't there? 

The Cabbage Looper is a member of the moth family. The caterpillar larvae is a measuring worm with a smooth and pale green body. It is called a looper because it arches its body as it crawls. The adult is a grayish brown moth that lays their eggs on the underside of the leaf. The eggs hatch in 2-10 days and the larvae begin eating holes throughout your plants.

The cabbage looper is very destructive to plants as I discovered in spring 2014. I started finding holes throughout mainly my brassica plants: collards, Brussels sprouts, kale, peas and broccoli. I also found them all over my calendula leaves, too.

Cabbage looper and leaf damage to peas, calendula and collards. 

I found it easiest to go out in the cooler mornings and just pluck them off the plants (or enlist my youngest son, Brandon, on bug patrol duty and offer to pay him 5 cents for every bad bug he found.)