Kale is wanton to uprise and , with proper guardianship , has few problems with insect once the plants are established . If an insect plague should appear , though , organic treatment methods are usable .
Insects and Diseases
The dirt ball and other plague that are draw to kale admit :
Caterpillars, aka “Green Worms”
Three type of caterpillars sometimes are refer to jointly as “ fleeceable worm ” , but each has features that distinguish it from the others . If you see them , you could pick them off the leaf by hand .
Aphids
Some aphids can be so tiny that they can only be examine under a microscope . All aphid have pear tree - shaped bodies and foresighted antenna . However , the dissimilar species can be describe by color and whether they appear to have a waxy or woolly coating .
You candiscourage aphidswith a spray of cold water or a motley of water and dishwashing liquid state .
Flea Beetles
Flea beetles are low , burnished beetles with prominent back legs that enable them to spring from leaf to leaf like flea . They can be solid or striped , and colors wander from bluish to metallic grey to back , brown , or bronze .
While the larva crosshatch from egg lay on the ground and provender on flora roots , the adults feed on the leaves , especially new form leaves and seedlings , creating small , round “ shotholes ” . These scattered shotholes give new leaves a lacy appearing . The holes are not a direct terror to established plants , but flea beetles can propagate blight and droop from plant to plant .
Adult flea beetle expend the winter in bosky or wooded areas . By pout down any copse that is near your garden in the gloaming , you eliminate the flea mallet ’s wintertime habitat .
Tilling your garden in the fall not only take a shit spring planting easier but also exposes flea beetle egg to the frigidness .
Flea mallet commence to leave behind their winter habitat when the temperature contact 50 ° F ( 10 ° century ) . you may preserve your seedling by delaying planting or transplanting your kale for about two workweek after temperatures warm to that point .
If you varnish your wrangle covers totally at once after transplant your moolah , they can keep flea beetles away .
Plant basil or catnip near your kale to repel flea beetle and use radishes and nasturtium to draw the flea beetles away to another area .
If you already have flea mallet on your kale , supply one tablespoon of liquid washup soap to a solution consist of five parts urine and two part itch alcohol and spray it on your plants , or dot your plant life with unvarnished talcum powder .
Cutworms
Like the green louse , cutworms are caterpillars . They are the larva of various dark - wing , brown or grizzly moths . They are sometimes mistaken for slugs , and the terms they do when they rise to the top of plants in late summer also can be mistake for damage because of slug .
Cutworms favour seedlings and young industrial plant , fertilize on the roots and sometimes the foliage . They can foreshorten completely through the root from below primer coat , killing the total plant .
As with flea beetle , mow down any tall grass or weeds around your garden to destroy the winter home ground of the moth , till the soil in the evenfall to uncover the cutworms and eggs to the colder temperature , and delay planting or transplantation by two week in the springiness if that is possible .
firefly and bird are the cutworm ’s instinctive predators . you could attract fire beetle by planting shrub and short trees near your garden to give fireflies a space to repose during the day .
For a small garden , make 4 ” wide cardboard collars to place around the plant as you transpose them , or save the cardboard tube from toilet paper roll and plant your seeds inside them . When your seedling are quick for translate , plant them with the tube still around them .
Cutworms favor to course from dusk into the nighttime and on nebulose day . When they are not alive and feed , they tend to curl up . Put on a pair of glove and pick them off of your wampum while they are out feeding .
While B thuringiensis can also harm butterfly , applying it in the afternoon can eliminate cutworms . Diatomaceous earth punctures soft bodied pests like cutworms when they fawn over it .
Old-time Solutions
Sprinkle ball shells , burnt umber grounds , or an oak tree leafage mulch around your kale .
