Here in the Cape, there are still weekly rains. It is so cold. Hearing news from Pretoria that it is again extremely hot after a brief cold spell.
Those butterflies are so beautiful. The smaller white ones with the black dot on their backs always spells doom for me, they eat the plants from the brassica family, rocket, mustard and those plants.
Some tend to devour certain plants in caterpillar phase not that bad the one cannot turn a blind eye !LOLZ
That is the problem! I have had whole crops devoured by certain caterpillars in less than two days, other ones tend to live more harmoniously with the plants.
We have some that go for the cycas and bulb plants, over the years I have learned to turn a blind eye and noticed they do damage but not that intense to warrant chemicals coming out.
I am sorry for only responding now. What a crazy week of traveling, things are slowing down a bit in that department.
For sure, chemical treatment is rarely the option. But sometimes it is needed even if only to help establish the plants. I had to throw some poison out for a snail attack on my small fynbos plants. They devoured everything. But after the plants established themselves, the slugs and snails had a feast without destroying the whole plant.
Slugs and snails I used beer traps, not sure if it's the smell or they drowned in the effort of getting to the plants!
I need to try this! Luckily, things have been growing so well recently that the need for any solution to keep the bugs away is not needed any longer. The salad rocket leaves are almost 20 cm long and I am eating so much of it on a daily basis now. Wish I could somehow share or sell it!
Trade with people in the region if possible when you have excess. Finding ways to combat bugs I have not had much success.