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A head of green cabbage filled with holes in the leaves from cabbage worms.

20 April by Melissa Norris

Cabbage Moth and Slug Control with Organic Gardening Methods

Gardening, Raising Your Own Food, Vegetables

Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means I will earn a commission at no additional cost to you, if you click through and make a purchase. Regardless, I only link to products we use on our homestead or believe in.
Pinterest pin for pest control in the garden from cabbage moths and slugs. Image of a woman holding a can of beer and a cabbage eaten by cabbage worms.
Pinterest pin for pest control in the garden from cabbage moths and slugs. Image of a cabbage eaten by cabbage worms.
Pinterest pin for pest control in the garden from cabbage moths and slugs. Image of a cabbage eaten by cabbage worms.
Pinterest pin for pest control in the garden from cabbage moths and slugs. Image of a cabbage eaten by cabbage worms.
Pinterest pin for pest control in the garden from cabbage moths and slugs. Image of a cabbage eaten by cabbage worms.
Pinterest pin for pest control in the garden from cabbage moths and slugs. Image of a woman kneeling in the garden holding a can of beer.
Pinterest pin for pest control in the garden from cabbage moths and slugs. Image of a woman kneeling in the garden holding a can of beer.
Pinterest pin for pest control in the garden from cabbage moths and slugs. Image of a woman kneeling in the garden holding a can of beer.
Pinterest pin for pest control in the garden from cabbage moths and slugs. Image of a woman kneeling in the garden holding a can of beer.
Pinterest pin for pest control in the garden from cabbage moths and slugs. Image of a woman holding a can of beer and a cabbage eaten by cabbage worms.

Dealing with cabbage moths and slugs in the garden is a pain, and keeping pesticides and chemicals out of your garden and food is important. But how do we get rid of pests in the garden using organic methods so the moths and slugs don't eat our crops before we're able to? Here are a handful of easy ways to eliminate or at least control these garden pests.

A head of green cabbage filled with holes in the leaves from cabbage worms.

We’ve always practiced organic gardening without knowing it growing up, using methods my grandparents and great grandparents did. Organic gardening is the art and practice of gardening without synthetic pesticides and chemicals.

This post has been updated since originally published alongside the podcast. The podcast discusses more methods for organic pest control, but for this blog post, we'll be focusing primarily on cabbage worms, cabbage moths and slugs. You can check out other methods for how to keep bugs off of your plants here.

In the video below, I'm sharing my tips on protecting brassicas from cabbage moths and slugs. If you deal with crop loss due to pests, this is one video you must watch, these two tips saved my crops last year.

What are Cabbage Moths and Cabbage Worms?

If you've been gardening for any length of time and have tried to grow cabbage or other brassicas in your garden, chances are you've dealt with cabbage moths or cabbage worms.

These garden pests can destroy a crop in no time. The cabbage worms will feed on the leaves of your crops and lay their eggs.

A cabbage worm eating a green cabbage leaf.

Types of Cabbage Moths

There are a few different kinds of destructive cabbage pests to be on the lookout for, the Imported Cabbage Worm, the Cross-Striped Cabbage Worm, Cabbage Loopers and Diamondback Moths.

Imported Cabbage Worm

The Imported Cabbage worm, which will eventually turn into the Cabbage White Butterfly or “Cabbage Moth” is a narrow green worm with a light yellow stripe down the middle of it's back.

The Imported Cabbage Worm likes to stay closer to the center of plants.

Cross-Striped Cabbage Worm

Another kind of cabbage worm is the Cross-Striped Cabbage Worm that is a blue-gray with multiple black stripes running cross-wise. Their larvae will destroy both buds and tender leaves of the plant. If you start to see a lot of holes in the leaves of your plants, these may be the issue.

Cabbage Loopers

Cabbage Loopers are sneaky and love to hide on the undersides of leaves, especially those leaves lower on the plant. These loopers are a light green shade with a two white stripes on their back and a white stripe on each side.

These worms are called “loopers” because they lack middle legs, so they move in a looping motion.

Diamondback Moth

If you can spot the Diamondback Moth larvae while they're small you can get ahead of these invasive pests. The tiny larvae are a yellow-green color and have a forked tail. Once the larvae get larger, they will leave your leaves looking like skeletons.

A woman kneeling in the garden holding a can of beer and pointing to a tray on the ground.

Protecting Crops from Pests

The first line of defense with organic gardening and pest control is to make sure your plants are healthy. Healthy plants have a better chance of surviving pest infestation.

Even tiny transplants that are weak will be the first to die from infestation. Be sure to read up on starting seeds indoors for the best chance at transplanting strong seedlings.

I always recommend amending your soil in the fall with sheet mulch or utilizing cover crops to put nutrients back into the soil, or even starting your own compost to add to your garden each year.. During the growing season, I apply this organic fish fertilizer mixed with water on my plants about once every three weeks.

A woman standing in the garden next to a row cover protecting her crops.

Check Your Garden Daily

The key to a healthy garden and staying ahead of the pests is checking on your plants daily. If they’re beginning to get infested or diseased, catching it early is key.

Manual removal of bugs is often the best control. You can watch this video on YouTube about how I doubled my harvest by using this method. I also manually remove flea beetles from the leaves. Check out this post for more tips on controlling other pests in the garden (other than cabbage moths or slugs).

An inside view of crops growing underneath row covers in the garden.

Protect Your Garden with Row Covers

When trying to avoid cabbage moths right from the get-go, I recommend covering your crops the day you direct sow or transplant them out into the garden. Using row covers early in the spring when the worms are laying their eggs will keep them from even getting a foothold on your plants.

Depending on your climate, you can choose between cloth row covers or frost protection row covers. If you're using the frost protection covers they may get too hot during the day. Keep an eye on your plants and remove them during the day on sunny or warm days, if needed.

A shallow tray with beer in it and a dead slug.

Use a Beer Trap to Protect Crops from Slugs

If slugs are an issue, one method I've had to use in the past is to manually remove them and place them into a cup filled with water and some dish soap. This is what I used to do until some of you shared with me that I needed to use a beer trap.

A beer trap is exactly as it sounds. You fill a shallow dish (or an upside-down frisbee!) with beer and wait for the slugs to dive in!

The slugs are actually attracted to the malt in the beer, so even using non-alcoholic beer will work just fine. Don't get fancy, slugs aren't picky so you don't want to waste your money on expensive beer.

I recommend placing these beer traps out in early spring to catch the slugs when they're small and before they have a chance to multiply. You may need to replace the beer and empty the traps of dead slugs each day depending on how bad your infestation is. Just keep an eye on it and empty or refill as needed.

Orange nasturtium at base of brussel spants to repel bugs naturally

More Ways to Protect From Garden Pests

There are more methods of protecting your crops from pests which I've shared before. Some of which include science-based companion planting and polyculture growing methods, introducing beneficial insects to your garden, making homemade decoy moths (cabbage moths are known to be territorial and may not land on your crops if it spots another “moth”), and using neem oil spray.

I discuss many of these methods in this post on natural organic pest control.

For more organic gardening tips, check out the following posts:

  • Grow Your Own Food – Helpful Tips For The Beginning Gardener
  • 10 Things Most Organic Gardeners Forget About
  • What is Organic Gardening and How to Start an Organic Garden at Home
  • 13 Basic Steps to Starting a Vegetable Garden
  • How to Create a Gardening Plan for More Harvest and Less Stress
  • 8 Common Mistakes Made by New Gardeners
  • Science-Based Companion Planting Strategies for a Healthier Garden
  • How to Get Rid of Bugs on Plants Naturally Tips that Actually Work
  • 11 Tips for Organic Pest Control for Vegetable Gardens
  • Gardening in March (Garden Tasks by Month)

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Filed Under: Gardening, Raising Your Own Food, Vegetables Tagged With: beer trap, cabbage moths, gardening, pest control, row covers, slugs

Melissa Norris

Melissa K. Norris inspires people's faith and pioneer roots with her books, podcast, and blog. Melissa lives with her husband and two children in their own little house in the big woods in the foothills of the North Cascade Mountains. When she's not wrangling chickens and cattle, you can find her stuffing Mason jars with homegrown food and playing with flour and sugar in the kitchen.

Read more about Melissa

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Comments:

  1. Podcast Fall Garden Prep 10 Tips to Improve Your Soil NowMelissa K. Norris

    September 12, 2014 at 5:22 am

    […] Podcast #32 10 Tips for Organic Gardening and Pest Control […]

    Reply
  2. eliot

    7 years ago

    you got quite some interesting stuffs and has really captivated and widen my scope on so many things. i love your world of exploration

    Reply
  3. Kate Harrison

    November 16, 2015 at 6:06 am

    Hi,

    I came across your Organic Gardening post, and I thought it was very clever and interesting. Great stuff!

    For your information, we wrote anarticle that is posted on our blog and we think that your readers may well respond to it. What do you say if we share it to them as well? It’s entitled “17 Gardening Apps You Need to Download Now”. Not to sound self-absorbed but we think that the topic is very interesting, eye-catching (the cool graphics will surely entice your readers), very timely, and is a perfect fit for your readers.

    I thought of sharing the link, but I worry it might end up in your spam box so let me know if you’re cool with seeing it and I’d be delighted to forward along!

    Either way, you just got yourself a new fan. Keep up the awesome work!

    Best,
    Kate

    Reply
    • Melissa Norris

      7 years ago

      Thanks, Kate.

      I’d look at the link, though most of my readers prefer “the old-fashioned” methods. 🙂

      Reply
  4. google

    September 10, 2016 at 3:11 am

    There’s definately a great deal to find out about this topic.
    I like all of the points you made.

    Reply
  5. Yamini

    June 7, 2017 at 7:11 am

    Well said on organic gardening pest control. All the tips you gave were excellent. I have few tips on Gardening. One of the pests control tip for termites is by using aloe vera. Take one part of aloe vera, squash it like paste and add 5 parts of water and spray it on the affected area. But most of us failed while doing homemade pesticides for other pests for those I recommend a hammerheads gardening service which I’ve used last week that helped me a lot and I saved my plants from pests. Link – https://www.hammerheads.ae/

    Reply
  6. Hansery worsen

    April 27, 2019 at 7:49 am

    Glad to know tips about organic garden and pest control services in such a detail.You also discuss different fertilizer in your article which is so remarkable way.Can you please elaborate more DC related information here?

    Reply
  7. Florence Welch

    4 years ago

    It sure is interesting to know that a good, organic way to fertilize your garden is by using coffee grounds in your soil because the acidity in your coffee is good for your plants. Since I have a lot of coffee grounds that are lying around the kitchen, I’m planning on using these as fertilizer for my plants. I’ve noticed that some of my plants have been wilting. That is why I am doing this. Thanks for your gardening tips!

    Reply
  8. cannon white

    4 years ago

    Your blog was very easy to follow, thanks so much for your helpful tips and advice! Great job. – cannon white

    Reply
  9. Rohit Makkar

    October 17, 2019 at 8:22 am

    Thank you for the article. I would like to share some more point on this topic
    Re-purpose egg shells.
    Set a beer trap.
    Use hair.
    Water only in the morning.
    Sprinkle diatomaceous earth (insect dust).
    Wrap copper tape around the base of plants.
    Pile on seaweed.

    Reply
    • Melissa Norris

      3 years ago

      Thanks Rohit, I haven’t found hair to be very effective personally and egg shells don’t deter snails or slugs so I use them for compost or calcium but not pests.

      Reply
  10. Maggie Green

    2 years ago

    Ironically, in previous years I always used beer traps for slugs. Last year was so bad that I switched to your method of manually picking and dumping in bucket of water. I’m sure the neighbors thought I was crazy as I was out at night with my flashlight and kitchen tongs and loud exclamations of “gotcha”. Anyhow this year I will be using empty plastic bottles with slug bait in them. It will keep it out of the garden soil and hopefully attract those slime balls to their death. Then I can just cap and toss.

    Reply

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Melissa K. Norris

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