Field library

Cabbage butterfly

A big white butterfly with black wing tips lays yellow eggs in groups under the leaves. The caterpillars that hatch are yellow-green with black spots and feed side by side in a crowd. They eat large holes in the leaves and can strip a plant down to the bare stalks, and their black droppings dirty the head so it cannot be sold.

How to scout

Pick ten plants from different corners of the field, turn their outer leaves over, and look for yellow clusters of eggs and for crowds of spotted caterpillars.