Lately, I've been biologically controlling and physically controlling the cabbageworm populations on our broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and collard greens. About once a day, I head out to the garden to see if there are any new holes on the leaves of the cole crop plants, and when I spot some, I turn the leaf over to (most of the time) find a little teensy baby caterpillar munching away. Sometimes the worms are so young, they don't even have their green coloring yet (which I can partly assume comes from the chlorophyll they're injesting), but sometimes they can be about 1 inch long and about half the diameter of a No. 2 pencil. This worm I'm familiar with, however the worm below was a new one for me.
After a little research, I believe I have correctly identified this caterpillar as a
corn earworm (
Helicoverpa zea). I did kill the worm at the time, and I am glad I did. They can wreak havoc on cabbage plants, lettuce, really all kinds of crops. I am glad I spotted him while we were out in the garden harvesting mustard greens before he got a chance to enjoy them himself. Until next time...
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