You spent time planning and laying out the garden bed; making sure all the plants had the space they needed; where getting enough sunlight and got water what necessary.

You are anticipating the harvest, fresh cabbage, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, Chinese cabbage, celery, and rocket or arugula. You are making your regular rounds of the garden when you realize someone or something has been there before you. Over the past few days you noticed a pretty white butterfly fluttering around the crops or in the evnign a grayish white moth was getting friendly with the broccoli, you paid little attention, just sat back and watch Nature.

This was a bad decision.

Proper identification is essential to effective pest control. The cabbage white butterfly is white and has black spots on the wings. The cabbage moth is greyish and much smaller.

Both moths and butterflies like to lay their eggs on the underside of leaves. When the larvae hatch they have a snack handy and happily munch away. The larvae of caterpillars hatch from the eggs and then feed on the leaves or fruit.

When you spot a cabbage butterfly take it as a signal to look underneath the plants’ leaves. The eggs of the cabbage butterfly are yellowish in colour and are usually found around the outer edges.

If you have had problems with cabbage butterflies in the past, then you may want to cover your brassicas (cabbage, broccoli so on) with a floating row cover. Be sure to check the plants before covering otherwise you may end up protecting the caterpillars from their natural predators such as starlings.

If the caterpillar is blue-green and smooth textured caterpillar it is the cabbage white butterfly and if it is green-brown is that of the cabbage moth. Both do the same damage to your plants.

The best way to combat cabbage butterflies is to hand pick, gloves are wise, them off the plants. This means you need to set up a regular schedule, time when you turn leaves over, for example, to see what is going on.

This is one of the best investments you can make; spending time examining your plants. Do it regularly and you can get to your cabbages before the caterpillars do.

If you see the pretty white butterfly dancing in your cabbage bed, do not just sit there enjoying the performance go take a look at the leaves and see what is actually going on in your garden.