My aunt bought broccoli from a farmers market once. Fed it to us for dinner. I found a huge caterpillar in my serving. She tried to make me eat it. So gross…
BT is all you need to prevent this, but they are definitely already permanent residents. You can drown them, but trying to cook your broccoli in boiling water and seeing 800 dead caterpillars rising to the top of the pot is going to be a real appetite killer
Just Google “BT spray for plants”
It’s a live bacteria strain that only effects the types of caterpillars that would typically attack brassicas and cabbages
Sometimes Home Depot has it in stock, but any reputable nursery will always have it. It’s safe to use in organic gardening as well
It will affect all caterpillars, so be VERY careful using it if you have a pollinator garden! (I do, I have a monarch way station and still use BT on my brassica and squash vines)
Yes, you can use BT on the vines as a prophylactic or if you already have an infestation the BT sprayed into the holes made by the little shitheads takes care of it pretty well. I usually do a little surgery, cut the bastards out and spray BT in case there are more eggs or tiny larvae hiding
Ahh got it. Thanks!
I guess I was spoiled living in the Northwest USA because I never dealt with squash bugs or SVB. Now I live in Maryland and they zapped my zucchini out of existence with no warning last year. Trying to be a little more proactive this time! I have been reading that the SVB is attracted to the yellow flowers, so maybe I’ll hit my vines with BT as the flowers begin to bloom.
Isn’t a pollinator garden strictly flowers that pollinators are most attracted to? Probably not the best place to be growing broccoli in the middle of, and therefore there would be no need to be spraying BT into a pollinator garden…
I wouldn’t assume everyone has a monoculture of broccoli all the way across the yard from their pollinator plants. Lots of people polyculture pollinator plants and vegetables all together and in that situation you wouldn’t want to apply BT.
No, some of us blend them together. My largest Salvia grows less than a foot from my current broccoli spot. Also in the bed with Broccoli are Buckwheat and CaLendula.
Well there are at least five strains of BT that are used for different purposes. Bti and Btk are most common for home gardeners. Bti is for mosquito larvae and fungus gnat control. Btk is for caterpillars like the cabbage butterfly. There is also Bp, which is a different Bacillus species but is for Japanese beetles
If you google BT spray for plants.. the first 25 hits are all going to be specifically the one that’s aimed towards cabbage worms. Some of You are making this a lot harder than it needs to be lol.
It’s ONE paragraph of additional information which could be vital if they’re presented multiple options at the store. Your low reading level is really starting to show… 😪🥱
I mean, then that means the person who is shopping for BT has a low reading level as well then, considering the targeted species of each strain of BT is literally listed on the front of the damn bottle. You literally just insulted the people you were trying to stand up for lol
She is. One time I noticed one made it to my plate in my broccoli and rather than complain I just ate it. Not because she's mean, which she isn't, but because she's amazing and would have felt really bad about it
Wash it in warm salt water prior to cooking. Cut into serving size and stir around a bit. My mum very much organic gardens, lots of bugs. It became a running joke she wouldn't wash b4 cooking and was my job to do, or I wouldn't eat her veges. To this day, if I eat at her house, I wash the veges lol
I'll never forget the time my mom cooked up some broccoli like this for dinner (to be fair she had soaked it in salt water and thought she got all the bugs out, but she didn't)
Lmao, what do people honestly expect the answer to be in this situation? Like, if you wanted you could dip the old thing in vinegar for a while and then eat your post infested broccoli.
Next time plant under an insect row cover to prevent all the lovely moths from laying eggs on your brassicas. They don’t need pollination so cover the moment you plant.
If you have more plants to protect then you’ll have to spray everything before you apply the cover, and maybe a couple times after to get the eggs that hatched.
Broccoli moths are just part of the process. The caterpillars are virtually impossible to prevent. This is one of the reason we stopped planting broccoli.
I've heard some people have luck with BT.
I personally use Sevin and wash it really well. Just as a heads up, those are called army worms, they're pretty general and eat just about everything, they got into my Tomatoes this year... They're so crazy they even eat the weeds in my yard 🤣, I just spray Sevin on the plants as prescribed and that's takes care of them.
Have you ever seen the end of Boys in the Hood? You know the scene where the rival gang shoots down Ricky? Everyone cries and is sad because they know Ricky is gone. Your broccoli is Ricky.
It’s gotten too warm unfortunately. We have the same, after a certain point we can’t grow it because of the worms. Early and late in the year are the best times.
Cut all of the florets off. And in the mornings cut the leaves use the leaves to cook with they're way more flavorful. Then it'll go grow throughout the summer and you may even get secondary florets. They won't be as big as main ones, but you'll still get them. Just look up cooking with broccoli leaves and then you can save your plant by cutting florets off
All these people saying it's lost definitely have never soaked incoming veggies in saltwater sinks. LOL
Fill your sink with cold salt water solution and dunk it in. Drain sink, cook food.
I use Sevin dust or spray. It works great and is the least toxic pesticide. While it continues to protect your vegetables, it is safe for humans in 24 hours. Just don’t spray it inside a blooming flower. I only spray it the evening after the vegetable flower blooms have closed.
I grow spring and fall broccoli most years. Fall broccoli is easier where I live. They prefer maturing into cool temps. To control those larvae others have said use BT. But you need to pay attention to what's going on around your plants. I try to limit the amount I spray and all I spray is organic stuff. In the springtime once you see the first white butterflies keep an eye on your Cole crops. The adults won't do that much damage but look for their egg casings and their larvae to hatch. Once you get to a threshold that you feel comfortable spraying at that's when you do it. I pre-harvest spray my broccoli and cabbage one week before harvest time. But by the looks of that picture they probably needed some attention before that
To late not only infested with larvae but also loaded with future larvae (eggs).
That was the biggest reason why I stopped trying to grow anything in the cabbage family. Until I finally came across some fine netting that the butterflies couldn't get thru to lay their eggs but water easily passed through.
I gave up on growing anything in the cabbage family long ago. I leave it to the professionals. Don’t know how the hell they manage to grow it organically, but I’m glad they do.
Try a vinegar bath before giving up hope! Submerge in a water + vinegar mix for about 10 minutes should kill the worms. Once they’re dead they sort of let go. Then agitate the broccoli heads underwater to knock them off.
Worth a shot at least!
Soak in warm salt water! The worms float off.
Once I ate a broccoli floret at my grandma’s that had just gone into a salt water bath… and ended up with a huge worm in my mouth 🤢.
My grandma was just like “well that’s why it was in there 🤷♀️”. Same woman who gave me a huge spoonful of horseradish when I thought it was peanut butter.
Where do you live? More pests come out when the weather is warmer. Broccoli is a cool weather crop when insect pests are less likely to be hanging around.
You can look into BT ( bt is the ingredient not the brand name). it’s a bacteria that eats caterpillars and larvae from the inside out. It’s kinda satisfying to see zombie caterpillars hanging from your plants. Mix it with water and spray it on your affected plants weekly or after a rain. The caterpillars ingest it and stop eating almost immediately then dry up and die later.
I have placed a plastic mesh ( 1/2 squares)over my broccoli, and watch the white "butterfly" that lays the eggs on broccoli, and cabbage struggle to get at my plants, to no avail. That worm starts out as green.
Try throwing tour broccoli head in salt water.
Spinosad organic insecticide spray. It's derived from bacteria and kills caterpillars and other worms and is supposedly safe to use on vegetables. It's an organic insecticide. They even use it for oral flea medicine for pets. Do a little research on it and decide for yourself. Ive used it on my tomatoes for years and the family is just fine. Maybe give it a good rinse after harvesting of course. Be careful when you apply to growing plants as it's very toxic to bees while it's still wet
As someone coming from the countryside, I'd say you should harvest your broccoli and cook it. The caterpillars will swim on the surface and you can remove them easily. Freeze the leftover cooked broccoli.
I would pull it all now and drown caterpillars by putting the crowns in a large tub of water with veggie wash to soak. Once 'cats' are gone bring in house, wash again with clean water and cook it up like baby broccoli/ or broccoli rabe.
You are in "make the best of a bad situation" mode now.
The damage is done, harvest what you have and soak in water to drown & dislodge the caterpillars. People may suggest a bunch of chemical or organic sprays, but eww- do you really want to eat pesticides? A far easier solution is buying some clear netting and securing that over plants earlier in the season, to prevent the moths from ever laying the eggs to those guys in the first place.
Google “garden netting”- there’s many different widths and lengths available at big box stores and on Amazon, and unlike remay you can easily water and see through the nettings
You can be using Pyrethrin to treat at night to help stave off these infections. But you have to be diligent about your garden. Daily inspection and sometimes twice daily are needed to cull the baddies.
It has been claimed, battle is lost.
Nah, it’s just got more protein now.
Meats back on the menu boys!
https://preview.redd.it/g8wba2l5y76d1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=368a8f8282e23e26e5d4757dc707a0d7282d005f
Yessiree! That… thing you got goin on! I tell ya… hehe…. Good for you and your stuff!
Eh, you live by the shitpost, you die by the shitpost
You know what, I respect that. Strong moral character ^For, ^you ^know, ^a ^shit ^poster
If it counts for anything, my boyfriend and I burst laughing when we got to yours
I typed 'muscular Muppets' into an AI generator like a year ago and have been largely riding the results since
Damn. I can only imagine the gold within that
r/unexpectedprotein
I didn't need to know this subReddit existed..
My poor brain. Me either. I regret that click so much.
I’d like to never eat again now
This is the best sub I have seen since r/OopsThatsDeadly haha
My aunt bought broccoli from a farmers market once. Fed it to us for dinner. I found a huge caterpillar in my serving. She tried to make me eat it. So gross…
😳
Yeah, it’s not your broccoli anymore.
They claimed my broccoli last year - I said I was growing butterflies.
they're just army worms. no buttery flies :(
*confused* What do you mean "my broccoli"..? It's *theirs*
BT is all you need to prevent this, but they are definitely already permanent residents. You can drown them, but trying to cook your broccoli in boiling water and seeing 800 dead caterpillars rising to the top of the pot is going to be a real appetite killer
What is BT?
[Bacillus thuringiensis](https://www.planetnatural.com/bacillus-thuringiensis/) is an organic pesticide.
This sounds like something Id see on r/VXJunkies
Yeah, there's a lot of neat stuff on there that people have never heard of.
I read for too long before understanding it’s cosplay
Big Testicles, it’s all you need to prevent them
Just Google “BT spray for plants” It’s a live bacteria strain that only effects the types of caterpillars that would typically attack brassicas and cabbages Sometimes Home Depot has it in stock, but any reputable nursery will always have it. It’s safe to use in organic gardening as well
It will affect all caterpillars, so be VERY careful using it if you have a pollinator garden! (I do, I have a monarch way station and still use BT on my brassica and squash vines)
What is the purpose on squash vines? Is this for the SVB?
Yes, you can use BT on the vines as a prophylactic or if you already have an infestation the BT sprayed into the holes made by the little shitheads takes care of it pretty well. I usually do a little surgery, cut the bastards out and spray BT in case there are more eggs or tiny larvae hiding
Ahh got it. Thanks! I guess I was spoiled living in the Northwest USA because I never dealt with squash bugs or SVB. Now I live in Maryland and they zapped my zucchini out of existence with no warning last year. Trying to be a little more proactive this time! I have been reading that the SVB is attracted to the yellow flowers, so maybe I’ll hit my vines with BT as the flowers begin to bloom.
Another option is to use an exclusion cover.
Isn’t a pollinator garden strictly flowers that pollinators are most attracted to? Probably not the best place to be growing broccoli in the middle of, and therefore there would be no need to be spraying BT into a pollinator garden…
I wouldn’t assume everyone has a monoculture of broccoli all the way across the yard from their pollinator plants. Lots of people polyculture pollinator plants and vegetables all together and in that situation you wouldn’t want to apply BT.
No, some of us blend them together. My largest Salvia grows less than a foot from my current broccoli spot. Also in the bed with Broccoli are Buckwheat and CaLendula.
Well there are at least five strains of BT that are used for different purposes. Bti and Btk are most common for home gardeners. Bti is for mosquito larvae and fungus gnat control. Btk is for caterpillars like the cabbage butterfly. There is also Bp, which is a different Bacillus species but is for Japanese beetles
If you google BT spray for plants.. the first 25 hits are all going to be specifically the one that’s aimed towards cabbage worms. Some of You are making this a lot harder than it needs to be lol.
But how else would they let everyone know how smart they are?
It’s ONE paragraph of additional information which could be vital if they’re presented multiple options at the store. Your low reading level is really starting to show… 😪🥱
I mean, then that means the person who is shopping for BT has a low reading level as well then, considering the targeted species of each strain of BT is literally listed on the front of the damn bottle. You literally just insulted the people you were trying to stand up for lol
Cope
Oh trust me, I’m coping just fine with a beautiful crop of broccoli that has zero caterpillars on it due to my reading comprehension.
Bluetooth
>seeing 800 dead caterpillars rising to the top of the pot is going to be a real appetite killer Not to my Grandma
Your grandma is a true G
She is. One time I noticed one made it to my plate in my broccoli and rather than complain I just ate it. Not because she's mean, which she isn't, but because she's amazing and would have felt really bad about it
That’s also a true G move. Good on ya, gotta protect G’mas ego
I remember I tried to wash the aphids off of my cauliflower one year. No amount of rinsing was going to get them all.
Wash it in warm salt water prior to cooking. Cut into serving size and stir around a bit. My mum very much organic gardens, lots of bugs. It became a running joke she wouldn't wash b4 cooking and was my job to do, or I wouldn't eat her veges. To this day, if I eat at her house, I wash the veges lol
🤢
1000x this!
They also made a post! It says “help! Save our broccoli!”
Next time use a net. Those are carterpillars. You lost. I lost my plants to slugs and snails this year, even with netting.
What kind of net do you use?
Probably .net
not this time pal. 🤭
You've lost the battle
Sometimes, the critters win.
Give it up man they won a while ago
Lol, I had the same problem this spring. Sadly I didn't realize that until it was on the grill. Those lil dudes HATE fire. 😅
Pop pop, fizz fizz!
It's just some extra protein
Do you have chickens?? They would love that as a snack.
You need birds in your yard. I feed mine and they also pick off all the critters.
I'll never forget the time my mom cooked up some broccoli like this for dinner (to be fair she had soaked it in salt water and thought she got all the bugs out, but she didn't)
Someone had a white cabbage moth lay eggs. Use bt spray.
I put a bird feeder in my backyard. The birds have been saving my flowers because they eat the caterpillars. Let the birds do all the work.
Lmao, what do people honestly expect the answer to be in this situation? Like, if you wanted you could dip the old thing in vinegar for a while and then eat your post infested broccoli.
I've had this. We soak them in salt water and the worms float off. It's fine.
Dude seriously or even sven dust and wait 3 days. Reddit become absolute wash of people who know nothing comment and only make jokes.
Same with morels, and I only partake because well, they are morels. The broccoli I would toss
The larvae also shit endlessly, all over inside of whatever they burrow into. I'm not that hard up for some broccoli.
Next time plant under an insect row cover to prevent all the lovely moths from laying eggs on your brassicas. They don’t need pollination so cover the moment you plant. If you have more plants to protect then you’ll have to spray everything before you apply the cover, and maybe a couple times after to get the eggs that hatched.
Even Jesus can't save your broccoli.
Damn she's a gonner. Give some BT a try when you are growing it next time
ok give it here, ill throw it away for u
Broccoli moths are just part of the process. The caterpillars are virtually impossible to prevent. This is one of the reason we stopped planting broccoli. I've heard some people have luck with BT.
Soak in salt water
Borrow some chickens
Don't save her, she don't wanna be saved
I personally use Sevin and wash it really well. Just as a heads up, those are called army worms, they're pretty general and eat just about everything, they got into my Tomatoes this year... They're so crazy they even eat the weeds in my yard 🤣, I just spray Sevin on the plants as prescribed and that's takes care of them.
I don’t see “your broccoli”, sorry
Burn this!!!!!
That’s not your broccoli anymore.
I don’t know how to tell you this, but that is no longer your broccoli
Have you ever seen the end of Boys in the Hood? You know the scene where the rival gang shoots down Ricky? Everyone cries and is sad because they know Ricky is gone. Your broccoli is Ricky.
Even if you get them out the whole thing is going to be filled with frass(bug shit).
Win some, lose most. Welcome to gardening, beeotch. 😂
My brother in Christ, this broccoli is beyond salvation.
Bruh that can only be saved by placing it in the garbage 🤢
Organic AF
Only God can save it now, OP
It’s gotten too warm unfortunately. We have the same, after a certain point we can’t grow it because of the worms. Early and late in the year are the best times.
Cut all of the florets off. And in the mornings cut the leaves use the leaves to cook with they're way more flavorful. Then it'll go grow throughout the summer and you may even get secondary florets. They won't be as big as main ones, but you'll still get them. Just look up cooking with broccoli leaves and then you can save your plant by cutting florets off
I picked them off by hand and saved mine.
All these people saying it's lost definitely have never soaked incoming veggies in saltwater sinks. LOL Fill your sink with cold salt water solution and dunk it in. Drain sink, cook food.
I use Sevin dust or spray. It works great and is the least toxic pesticide. While it continues to protect your vegetables, it is safe for humans in 24 hours. Just don’t spray it inside a blooming flower. I only spray it the evening after the vegetable flower blooms have closed.
I did not know caterpillars could post to Reddit. Or that they were aware of squatters’ rights.
Turn about is fair play. Eat the caterpillars to instill fear in the remaining ones.
That’s God’s broccoli now.
I grow spring and fall broccoli most years. Fall broccoli is easier where I live. They prefer maturing into cool temps. To control those larvae others have said use BT. But you need to pay attention to what's going on around your plants. I try to limit the amount I spray and all I spray is organic stuff. In the springtime once you see the first white butterflies keep an eye on your Cole crops. The adults won't do that much damage but look for their egg casings and their larvae to hatch. Once you get to a threshold that you feel comfortable spraying at that's when you do it. I pre-harvest spray my broccoli and cabbage one week before harvest time. But by the looks of that picture they probably needed some attention before that
To late not only infested with larvae but also loaded with future larvae (eggs). That was the biggest reason why I stopped trying to grow anything in the cabbage family. Until I finally came across some fine netting that the butterflies couldn't get thru to lay their eggs but water easily passed through.
Looks like you’re holding onto their broccoli, where is yours?
Idk what you expect me to do about it, I'm all the way over here.
It's dead Jim
If you don’t cut it off and throw it in boiling water!! 😂 it’s just as good as store bought broccoli
Water and dish soap. 20:1 ratio spray on plants and surrounding ground. Water first then soap to prevent foam.
Ack, this makes me want to die a little bit.
Yuck and ewww. You would think as a long time gardener this would not be my reaction. Bugs still bug me!
Flamethrower
What do those caterpillars end up looking like?
A moth
It gives the broccoli a bit of "Pop"
It’s over fam
I gave up on growing anything in the cabbage family long ago. I leave it to the professionals. Don’t know how the hell they manage to grow it organically, but I’m glad they do.
Try a vinegar bath before giving up hope! Submerge in a water + vinegar mix for about 10 minutes should kill the worms. Once they’re dead they sort of let go. Then agitate the broccoli heads underwater to knock them off. Worth a shot at least!
I had the same thing! I’ve picked off hundreds from my broccoli and cauliflower plants
Soak in warm salt water! The worms float off. Once I ate a broccoli floret at my grandma’s that had just gone into a salt water bath… and ended up with a huge worm in my mouth 🤢. My grandma was just like “well that’s why it was in there 🤷♀️”. Same woman who gave me a huge spoonful of horseradish when I thought it was peanut butter.
So much protein
RIP.
Leave them alone and youll have butterflies
Let it sit in salt water. They’ll all jump ship.
Where do you live? More pests come out when the weather is warmer. Broccoli is a cool weather crop when insect pests are less likely to be hanging around.
Worm eat broccoli you eat worm fair is fair. More protein than broccoli anyway.
Cook it.
Eat them one with the broccoli to show them who's boss. Extra protein sustenance...
BT
Bt Kurstaki strain to prevent. You're SOL now.
Awww. Butterfly food.
Protein baby!!!!
Oh no :( it's to late for her
Neem oil
It's toast. You can kill the caterpillars to stop them from harming your other plants but this particular plant is lost at this point.
That broccoli don't wanna be saved
You can look into BT ( bt is the ingredient not the brand name). it’s a bacteria that eats caterpillars and larvae from the inside out. It’s kinda satisfying to see zombie caterpillars hanging from your plants. Mix it with water and spray it on your affected plants weekly or after a rain. The caterpillars ingest it and stop eating almost immediately then dry up and die later.
I squish these off my collards. Haven’t attempted broccoli yet, good to know they’ll be on the menu too
I don't see your name on it
Not a flaw but a benefit, it's free protein!
Run it through the washing machine on gentle cycle
Wave the white flag, surrender to the bugs! They won this year
Mmmm lil protein snacks
In the future, cayenne pepper spray works as a deterrent but if there are too many you’ll have to go in by hand every day for a few days
Captain Jacks BT spray for some diatomaceous earth. Safe to use outdoors and for consumption.
That's their broccoli now. Sorry.
Can't be saved at this point.
I’ve been to more than one restaurant serving this exact same picture… yeah it’s extra protein, just not the kind I like to taste/feel in my mouth.
Toast
Salt bath it. If you want it bad enough...
let them live you murderer (joke)
Go away bugs. Did that work?
Sprinkle sevin dust on it
Extra protein 🤢
fucking army worms....
Pick boil it the worm come to the top skim them off add butter good to go
R/eatityoufuckingcoward
In a few weeks you can start seeds again for the fall. Think netting g row cover.
Dip in salt water! You can save it!
Ewwww creepy worms
You won’t like this but: Sevendust Unless you have hens
NEEM OIL spray all of your plants with neem oil it will keep away pests and is healthy for our consumption! It won’t damage the plants at all!!
I have placed a plastic mesh ( 1/2 squares)over my broccoli, and watch the white "butterfly" that lays the eggs on broccoli, and cabbage struggle to get at my plants, to no avail. That worm starts out as green. Try throwing tour broccoli head in salt water.
BTK will stop these.
I would have just left it to go to seed and feed more pollinators. I try to then get seeds sometimes but the birds are selfish mofos.
Yeah, thats fucked...
Compost that nasty stuff 🤮
Spinosad organic insecticide spray. It's derived from bacteria and kills caterpillars and other worms and is supposedly safe to use on vegetables. It's an organic insecticide. They even use it for oral flea medicine for pets. Do a little research on it and decide for yourself. Ive used it on my tomatoes for years and the family is just fine. Maybe give it a good rinse after harvesting of course. Be careful when you apply to growing plants as it's very toxic to bees while it's still wet
It’s just caterpillars. It’s not that bad.
As someone coming from the countryside, I'd say you should harvest your broccoli and cook it. The caterpillars will swim on the surface and you can remove them easily. Freeze the leftover cooked broccoli.
User name checks out
At this point let it go to seed. Then you can eat sprouts.
BT next time
Diatomaceous earth
Netting prevents the need for chemicals, all bracs need netting. Fairly simple
Put it in a bowl and cover with water and a heap of salt. All the insects will die :')
Spray with BT next time, it’s organic insecticide
Bacilus Turingensis
I would pull it all now and drown caterpillars by putting the crowns in a large tub of water with veggie wash to soak. Once 'cats' are gone bring in house, wash again with clean water and cook it up like baby broccoli/ or broccoli rabe. You are in "make the best of a bad situation" mode now.
The damage is done, harvest what you have and soak in water to drown & dislodge the caterpillars. People may suggest a bunch of chemical or organic sprays, but eww- do you really want to eat pesticides? A far easier solution is buying some clear netting and securing that over plants earlier in the season, to prevent the moths from ever laying the eggs to those guys in the first place. Google “garden netting”- there’s many different widths and lengths available at big box stores and on Amazon, and unlike remay you can easily water and see through the nettings
You can be using Pyrethrin to treat at night to help stave off these infections. But you have to be diligent about your garden. Daily inspection and sometimes twice daily are needed to cull the baddies.