Cabbage butterfly insect. Description, features, types and photos of cabbage

1. Differences between the cabbage white butterfly and other butterflies
2. What does the cabbage butterfly eat?
3. Reproduction of cabbage whites
4. Destruction of cabbage weeds Agrotechnical methods

The cabbage butterfly is a member of the white butterfly family along with the turnip, the hawthorn and the pea white. These butterflies are plant pollinators and love nectar. But the voracious offspring of the cabbage whites eat the leaves of cruciferous plants down to the veins. This butterfly often chooses cabbage leaves for its clutches. If a bird eats caterpillars, it will die, because the larvae are dangerous due to the caustic substance they secrete.

Differences between the cabbage white butterfly and other butterflies

The cabbage plant is easily confused with other white cabbage plants. More often confused with Repnitsa, which is smaller and the lower wings are wider. The female cabbage duck has bright black spots on the upper wings, while the male has little visible spots. The corners of these wings are also black, and the lower wings are yellowish.

The wings are 5-6 cm wide, with the female being wider. The body, which consists of 3 segments, has tiny villi. There are eyes on the sides of the head, long antennae play the role of a nose. The front part of the head ends with a twisted proboscis. Paws with 2 claws, with which it holds onto the bark of trees.

When it is cloudy, hidden cabbage birds are not visible; they prefer to fly in sunny weather. When they fly, they move sharply and spasmodically, which helps them remain undetected by birds. The coloring, which during flight looks like a glare from the sun, also helps with this.

Description and features

This lepidoptera belongs to the large family of whites, which includes 1146 species, 91 genera. Its full scientific name is cabbage white (lat. Pieris brassicae). The adult size varies from 2.5 to 3.3 cm. Females are slightly larger than males. The wingspan of the former is from 5.1 to 6.3 cm, for the latter from 4.9 to 6.2 cm

The main color of the butterfly is white or cream. The outer corners of the wings have a dark edge. Females additionally have one black dot on each upper wing. The inside of the wings is pale green. Therefore, an insect resting on a plant may not be noticed.

Almost the entire body of the cabbage weed, consisting of the head, chest and abdomen, is covered with fine hairs. When a butterfly lands on a flower, tiny particles of pollen settle on these hairs. Thus, cabbage whites promote plant pollination.

The adult insect feeds using its proboscis. It is usually twisted into a spiral. The insect straightens it only when it wants to get nectar from a flower. The butterfly's visual organs are represented by a pair of round and fairly large eyes. Tactile and olfactory receptors are located at the tips of long antennae.

Each of the butterfly's six legs has two claws. With their help, it can be held on tree bark. At the same time, the cabbage duck's front pair of paws is so well developed that it can use them when walking. Cabbage whites move spasmodically. This serves as protection from birds, since it is very difficult for the latter to catch an insect in flight that moves jerkily.

The butterfly also uses its color as a protective agent and to scare away potential enemies. Not only adult insects, but also their larvae and pupae have aposematic “camouflage.” In addition, due to the specifics of their diet, cabbage caterpillars emit an unpleasant odor (its cause is mustard oils containing sulfur compounds), which repels most birds.

Reproduction of cabbage whites

Cabbage plants appear in April-May, when the daytime temperature no longer drops below 12 degrees. Over the summer, butterflies hatch 2-3 generations of new cabbageweeds. By mid-October they stop flying.

The cabbage butterfly makes 10-15 clutches on the underside of cabbage leaves. These are piles of 20-30 pieces of yellow eggs, similar to small skittles, 1.2 mm each.

After 7-14 days, caterpillar larvae emerge, 3 cm long and with 16 legs. The color is gray-green, longitudinal yellow stripes, black dots and hairs on body segments.

At first, the “newborns” lie motionless, then crawl along the leaves and gnaw off the soft parts. At first they live on the lower side, and when they mature, they move to the upper part.

Caterpillars live and eat for 13-40 days (longer in May-June than in August), this is influenced by weather conditions. The caterpillar then anchors in a secluded place and becomes green, with a yellow tint, a pupa with sharp ends and black dots on the sides and back.

The pupa turns into a butterfly in 10-14 days. Autumn pupae overwinter, and in the spring young cabbage emerges, ready to reproduce. Adult butterflies live up to 3 weeks.

Prevention and control measures

The main prevention is timely control of the pest. If a clutch of eggs is detected on a plant, the necessary measures should be taken immediately. A small number of plants can be treated by removing pest eggs manually.

Preventive measures also include the following:

• Remove masonry from wooden buildings and fences using a strong water jet.
• Do not allow cruciferous weeds to grow strongly in the beds; remove them in a timely manner.
• It is better to place beds with cruciferous crops at a distance from each other so as not to attract pests.
• The dangerous insect does not like the smell of marigolds, valerian, and lemon balm.
• Cabbage seedlings should be covered with special agrofibre to prevent butterflies from laying eggs.
• Carrots, parsley and dill are attractive to the natural enemies of cabbage weeds, so it is better to plant cruciferous plants between them.
• Nearby cabbage beds are very attractive to pests, and not just cabbage butterflies.
• It is recommended to periodically inspect the leaves of crops in order to take the necessary measures in time.
• If necessary, use chemicals.

Caterpillars are very dangerous for the cruciferous family

In nature there are also natural enemies of cabbage weeds. The main rider is Apanteles. This is a type of wasp that is a parasite of caterpillars and lays its eggs in their body. As a result, 80% of the pest is killed. It is the rider that helps control the butterfly population in nature. In addition, cabbage grass can become food for beetles and spiders.

Destruction of cabbages

In the home garden it is useful to use traditional methods, but in large plantings it is worth using chemicals. The earlier the fight begins, the fewer offspring will be produced and the harvest will be preserved.

Agrotechnical methods

These measures should be applied before the start of summer for cabbage whites:

• autumn and spring digging of soil;
• application of organic fertilizers;
• cleaning weeds and plant debris, removing weeds that belong to the cruciferous family;
• plant cabbage seedlings before the butterflies appear;
• plant dill, mint, fennel, parsley and other plants with a strong smell in the rows;
• It is useful to plant cabbage next to tomatoes and eggplants; cabbage plants avoid these crops;
• Inspect the plantings more often and remove masonry and crawling caterpillars with your hands.

Danger of the cabbage butterfly for crops

During the warm period, the butterfly manages to live for two generations, even three in the southern regions. The pest can cause irreparable damage to the garden and garden plot. However, the butterfly itself is safe for rural crops. It is the caterpillars that damage the plants.

For food, insects use leaves of cabbage and other cruciferous crops - turnips, radishes, mustard, horseradish. Unfortunately, if no measures are taken in time, a colony of caterpillars can destroy almost the entire crop.

However, it is not only plants that can suffer. Cabbage white caterpillars secrete a toxic substance that can cause skin irritation. In some cases, poultry have died after eating these pests.

Folk recipes for destroying cabbage whites

Night spray solutions

1). Take 3 liters of water and dissolve valerian alcohol tincture in it, 1 bottle. Sometimes salt is added, 2 tablespoons.

2). Dissolve 0.5 kg of ash in a bucket of water. After 30 min. add liquid soap (2 tablespoons).

Trap

Sweet syrup or jam is poured into a container (plate, cut-off plastic bottle) and “Brewer’s yeast” tablets are placed. Don’t forget to remove the insects that have accumulated there.

Decoctions and infusions for spraying

1). Pour pine or spruce needles, cones (0.2 kg) with boiling water (2 l). The infusion is left for a week, then filtered and stored in the refrigerator. This infusion is enough for a 10-liter bucket of water.

2). Add mustard powder (100 g per bucket) to hot water and leave for 2 days. Dilute 1 to 1.

3). Fresh potato tops (1 kg) are infused in a bucket of water for 4 hours. After straining, soap, 50 g, is added.

4). Fill a bucket one-third full with chopped burdocks and add water. The herb is infused for 3 days.

5). Dry and cut wormwood (1 kg). Boil for 15 minutes, add water. The cooled broth is diluted with a bucket of water.

6). Garlic broth from 0.4 kg of unpeeled cloves. You will need 5 liters of water. Boil for 2 hours. Dilute 1 to 1.

7). Dried chamomile (1 kg) is infused for 12 hours in a 10-liter bucket of water. After filtering, dilute with two buckets of water and add soap, 100 g.

8). Ammonia (50 ml) is poured into a bucket of water and used without infusion.

It is useful to sprinkle the leaves with tobacco dust or baking soda.

How to protect your garden from pests?

Usually, during the warm period, the cabbage white has time to live two generations, in the south - three.

After the first butterflies emerge from the overwintered pupae, and they, in turn, lay eggs, several months pass.

During this time, the caterpillars grow, undergo the pupation process, and in July the second generation of cabbage moths appears. If the season is warm , then the pests linger until October, having time to survive the third cycle.

Important! The first appearance of butterflies occurs in April - May. In order to prevent cabbage from spoiling the harvest in the future, it is necessary to begin prevention against these pests in the spring.

Butterflies overwinter in crevices and dark corners of garden buildings, in fences, and can climb under the bark of old trees and onto dry branches of bushes. Before the butterflies leave their shelters, it is necessary to clean tree trunks, inspect barns and sheds, and wash fences and walls of buildings with a strong stream of water from a sprinkler hose.

Butterfly pupae are yellowish in color, with dark spots. The cleaning procedure will not give a 100% guarantee that cabbageweeds will not start flying around the garden in May, but it will help to significantly reduce the insect population. It is better to whiten the peeled trunks of perennial plants.

It is necessary to promptly remove cruciferous weeds from all areas of the vegetable garden and garden. For example, this insect really likes shepherd's purse, rapeseed and marigold.

What does the cabbage butterfly eat? To prevent damage to the entire crop when cabbage appears, you need to plant radishes, left-handed leaves, turnips, cabbage and radishes separately from each other. But nearby you can plant marigolds, valerian, lemon balm, carrots, parsley and dill - the white butterfly really doesn’t like them and will serve as a deterrent.

In addition to the cabbage butterfly, other insect pests also threaten the garden. Here are the main ones: tomato moth, carrot fly, whitefly aphid, copperhead, earwig, pine sawfly, slugs, Colorado potato beetle, spider mite, moth.

What to do if you settle in your garden?

Almost no precautions will protect you from butterflies that fly to you from someone else's garden. What to do if these dangerous insects are spotted?

On small crop areas, you can destroy pests manually and use traditional methods .

1. If the planting area is small, then with regular inspection you can manually collect laid eggs of cabbage moths and hatched cabbage moth caterpillars. They can usually be found on the bottom of the leaf. Often, in addition to the cone-shaped yellow testicles described above, you can find egg-shaped lumps nearby that look like cotton wool - you don’t need to touch them. Soon they will hatch into riders, enemies of cabbage butterflies and helpers of gardeners.
2. Butterflies that have gotten into the habit of flying in the garden can be lured with thick syrup with yeast, pouring it into plates or lids and placing traps near cabbage and other cruciferous vegetables.
3. A frequent mosquito net used to cover the beds can prevent butterflies from laying eggs.
4. Infusions of herbs that need to be sprayed on vegetables about once a week help well against cabbage.

Decoctions for processing are usually prepared simply, and the ingredients can be found in the garden itself or in the nearest store.

• one of the simplest solutions is to mix valerian tincture (1 bottle) and three liters of water;
• for the second recipe you will need sifted ash, 0.5 l. It is necessary to stir it in a bucket of boiled water, and after the solution has settled, drain the clear liquid, add 2 tablespoons of liquid soap and mix well;
• You can make an effective decoction from burdock, yarrow and wormwood. To do this, you need to pour boiling water 1:3 over the plants and leave for several days. All that remains is to strain and spray the crops.

If large areas are affected by the pest, as well as with a large population of insects, you can use chemicals. Solutions such as “Karbofos”, “Fitoverm”, “Bitoxibacillin”, “Kinmiks”, “Aktellik”, “Lepidocid” work well.

Attention! It is best to carry out treatment at an early stage of leaf formation so that the plant does not subsequently absorb these chemicals.

Bacterial preparations, for example Fitoverm, can be used throughout the development of vegetables, and finished immediately before harvesting.

Cabbage butterflies attack vegetable gardens and crops every year - however, having learned how to properly carry out prevention, as well as choosing the most effective method for processing vegetables in a particular case, when a pest appears, you don’t have to worry about the harvest.

Not only butterflies and other insects can cause irreparable harm to your plantings. On our website you can find useful information about other garden pests. Read all about wild rats, shrews, moles, bats and mice, gophers, wild hamsters. And also about ways to combat wireworms, locusts, whiteflies, sawflies and carrot flies.

Habitat lifestyle

The butterfly's habitat extends throughout Eastern Europe; in addition, the cabbage butterfly has reached Asia and North Africa. Also, this species was recently introduced to South America

The habitats of the butterfly are quite diverse; these can be roadsides, gardens, vegetable gardens, forest belts and even populated areas. The favorite food of cabbage butterflies is representatives of the cruciferous family, including its most popular representative, cabbage.

The cabbage butterfly is active from April to October. Since they are diurnal butterflies, they prefer daytime, especially hot days. What they don’t like is the wind, which is why their habitats are most often protected from the wind.

Stages of development: description

The cabbage butterfly develops in the same way as all insects with a complete transformation cycle, which occurs in 4 stages:

• egg;
• larva or caterpillar;
• chrysalis;
• adult or imago.

Scientists in the last century noticed one interesting feature of the insect - the butterfly is very careful about its offspring. The female never lays eggs on leaves where eggs have already been laid by another individual. It is assumed that the butterfly determines by smell that the leaf is already occupied.

Damage caused

The cabbage cutworm as a pest is dangerous only in the form of a caterpillar, because its adults feed exclusively on flower nectar. The larvae, which require a lot of nutrition for growth and development, prefer succulent cruciferous plants, mainly cabbage. They are not averse to eating legumes and sugar beets.

Scientists have calculated that about 70 species from 22 plant families are suitable for feeding cabbage cutworm larvae.

Starting from the 3rd instar, the caterpillars feed on the pulp of cabbage leaves: first they gnaw the upper plates of the cabbage head, which leads to the formation of asymmetrical holes. Larvae of the 4th and 5th instars penetrate deep into the cabbage. To do this, they form branched passages in the head of cabbage. Since the larvae leave their excrement inside the plant, it soon rots. As a result, the cabbage grows unsightly in appearance, rotten and chewed from the inside.