I let them out into the garden to be free!
EDIT: This grew locally on my kale in my garden bed, so its native. Also, just found out its a moth and not a butterfly. Whoops!
EDIT 2: Apparently it is a butterfly, a cabbage white butterfly. Also, apparently they are not friendly to kole plants.
by KolorOner
34 Comments
looks like what a cabbage worm grows up to be
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieris_rapae
##Hey, so, don’t do this, ever.
Never release an insect that hitched a ride on food into your area.
https://preview.redd.it/porh3o6pt5hg1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bcca02619830de327578e9c950033554b8ab4c89
It’s a cabbage moth. They are considered garden pests that lay eggs on brassicas. They hatch into worms that eat cabbage leaves.
Cabbage moth! Makes sense
God damnit
It turned in to a cabbage moth. One of the pests that ruin all kole crops to include kale
Crush that pest.
Or if you want green worms eating your produce, set it free.
https://preview.redd.it/s8vaadw3v5hg1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=23d34be7caf3d74b077bf4539187eda193c0038b
That’s a cabbage moth. The green pesky caterpillars that eat everything is what they are before metamorphosis. I have fake ones around my yard to try to discourage them (it doesn’t really work)
I try to keep my garden completely free from insecticides…. but it is POINTLESS for me to try and plant certain flowers if I don’t spray BT for these buggers. I HATE budworms
Tbh I raised 3 of these guys last year, but they’re not good so I just let them be in my house. Had butterfly roommates. Sugar water and flowers everywhere for them.
Not a butterfly, a cabbage moth. They are invasive and destroy kale crops, as well as most cruciferous veggies.
Feel free to keep as a pet, but if you live anywhere where neighbors or farmers grow vegetables, releasing it would basically be hurting everones gardens and crops.
It’s really sweet that you wanted to help a living thing, but this is a pest, not a pollinator or friend.
These fellas ate all my brassicas
These evil things lay eggs which result in caterpillars that demolish nasturtiums and plants of the brassica family. Had to constantly check my nasturtiums after finding them trying to demolish them last year.
Reads comments. Lights insect on fire.
Well bless your heart
That a bastard cabbage moth.
Nope not friendly, tho cute. I loved feeding them to my chickens.
Those bastards are not welkies in my garden
Just because something laid an egg in your garden and that egg grew into something DOES NOT automatically make that thing native. This is important.
Cuteeee but not friendly
Everyone here talking bout releasing it would cause havoc and whatnot, as if it wouldn’t have become a butterfly in the wild anyway
Hopefully I never swallowed one of these.
Destroy that thing. It will eat someone’s kale or cabbage down to the stem.
As for your second edit, yeah, anytime you see a caterpillar on a plant, it’s because they’re eating that plant, but hey! A plant without holes ain’t doing it’s job.
Omg! I love bugs so much, I’m so careful not to tell people when I allow the bad ones to live. 😂 I especially don’t go bragging about having cultivated, and releasing them upon the unsuspecting neighborhood. You do you, though girl! 🤣😂❤️ Just kiddin!
>This grew locally on my kale in my garden bed, so its native.
The fact that you find something locally does not mean it’s native. Cabbage moths are native to Europe and Asia, but can be found in North America where they are invasive.
If not fren, why fren shaped?
Ah, some of those decimated my broccoli, lettuce, and brussel sprouts. That’s when I learned to cover my stuff with light weight cloth to prevent critters.
A mayonnaise jar with a stick and a leaf. To recreate what he’s used to. Nice work.
Okay people, hear me out.
I am a native plant enthusiast. I grow a ton of native plants to support native insects. Native plants and native insects are important because they support each other, and support other organisms like birds or predatory insects. I am also an organic, regenerative gardener, so I rely on predators to control pests like the cabbage white, and, at least in my garden, they do.
We plant a lot of non-native brassicas. These brassicas are a host plant for non-native cabbage white butterflies. The butterflies eat this plant, and are in turn, eaten by predators, native insects and birds. The are also pollinators for many native and non native plants.
So, where exactly is the harm? We are providing a host plant, and an insect that feed many others in the ecosystem (including us).
Ew
Don’t let people tell you it deserves to die. “Tomato worms” are actually sphinx moths. “Cabbage worms” are actually white butterflies.
These insects are a natural part of the ecosystem and deserve to live. If you find them on your plants, simply relocate them to a different plant. You don’t need to go scorched earth on the planet just to grow some food