A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Plant pests and problems Am I a horrible neighbor for ....

Basically giving the cabbage white butterflies food/shelter?
I'll be honest- I'm rather naive and thought ALL butterflies are GOOD butterflies And, apparently I was wrong.
I planted from seed a mesclun greens mix in my garden. I noticed little caterpillars on the mustard type greens. No biggie, just picked them off and washed the greens. But then it got really hot, so I pulled everything up because the greens were getting so bitter, but I left 1 of the mustard green plants because there were still caterpillars on it, and I figured "caterpillars =butterflies". So now i have a really large hole-y plant w/ tons of green caterpillars on it, and lots of cabbage white butterflies.
I've also been noticing their eggs around the outside of my house.
So I guess my question is: how bad is it that I have allowed them to breed?

I confess that I like to grow cabbage/mustard family plants to attract cabbage moths...I believe they are actually moths. There are two types, cabbage whites and, I think, spotted whites, they're charming. They'd likely be finding your neighbor's plants without your help, they're prolific, and your contribution to their population is of little consequence, (or so I tell myself!) Enjoy them, but if you want to preserve some of your plants they're attracted to, use some Bt, bascillus thurengeinsis (dipel dust,) a bacterial, natural insecticide, it's non-toxic and allowed under organic gardening standards, affects only catterpillars and not beneficials like ladybugs, praying mantis, etc.
Unfortunately, many butterflies/moths require a host plant for their larva, so they are often "pests" of something or other. Some plants feed the larva, some provide pollen, expect to allow some crops to be eaten and protect others for your own use, I see it as a fair exchange! :)

oh yeh, the second type are called checkered whites, had to strain my brain to remember.

Oh goodie! The guilt is melting away : )

I'm thinking of my elderly neighbor running outside with a tennis racket swatting at the cabbage moths and cursing at them this summer. He sells the cabbage for a little extra $ on the side. He grows some kind of rare Chinese cabbage that from a distance looks like a large green turkey.

He ought to use some sort of netting on them >. Cabbage.. I did that for blue berrys.
This year I didnt .Birds eat them all.

b

What kind of netting did you use dodge?

My sis gave me somthing that looked like fishnet.

After that ,,,,,,,I juat used old lace curtins an tied them on top of the trees.