If your foliage and flower buds look a little raggedy, it's probably the fault of cabbage loopers. As young larvae, they can feed from 2 to 4 weeks on your garden ornamentals and vegetables, causing considerable damage. An infestation can last from early spring, when the eggs have been laid, to late fall when the next generation of pupae rest for the winter.
The edges of foliage and flower buds usually looked chewed after the cabbage loopers begin to feed. There might also be irregular round holes through the leaves.
To control a current infestation, use Ortho® Bug-B-Gon MAX® Lawn & Garden Insect Killer Ready-to-Spray or Concentrate, or Ortho® MAX™ Flower & Vegetable Insect Killer Ready-to-Use.
Cabbage loopers are destructive green caterpillars that grow to be 1-1/2 inches long. In addition to their tell-tale white stripes, an infestation can be identified by the presence of tiny green eggs on the surface of leaves. The eggs are laid by the brownish adult moths that spread the bugs from plant to plant.
