Recovery from caterpillars on foliage. Bio BT

[Anne Wood]

Re: the photographs, yes these are the culprits that destroyed 25% of my parsnip foliage and 100% of carrot foliage.

The damage was incredibly quick, only taking a week or two to go from the best crop ever, to decimated. Strangely enough despite the quantity of leaf the caterpillars ate, they did not get any bigger. This seems impossible but is the case.

Someone wrote, on this blog, that there is a parsnip moth/butterfly in USA but it only eats wild parsnip flowers. Not the case here, they only ate the leaves ( but then my parsnips had not gone to seed)

Willsandlands (member of this blog) advised me to buy a packet of Bio BT. I sprayed it on the foliage last Sunday, it is now Thursday and the caterpillars have virtually all gone. So it took four days. I can now see new fresh green growth shooting from the base of parsnips and carrots.

I have pulled some carrots and they are sound but very small. The parsnips I have not checked and will not bother until I see what the harvest brings after a frost.

I did not water the parsnips and carrots whilst the spray was on the foliage as it washes off very easily, but now the caterpillars have gone I am feeding and watering the plants more than normal as I feel they have had an enormous check and the new green growth will also be taking more energy out of them.

Next year I shall certainly keep my eyes sharp in July to check for brown spots on foliage and always have some Bio BT at the ready.

So a big thank you to Willsandlands

Anne Wood