If I could number the identification number of time that someone said they hated brussels sprouts as a youngster , but love the nutty little nuggets today , I ’d be a productive woman .
Do you know who else lie with brussels sprouts ? Bugs .
Caterpillars , worms , and little sap - sucking insects of all form ca n’t seem to get enough of cole crops in general .
Photo via Alamy.
The dear news program is that brussels sprout have the advantage of growing big , attractive leaves that we human do n’t unremarkably use . Insects often assail this foliage first .
In most showcase , it does n’t count much if you see some cosmetic harm to the foliage , so long as the heads are not touch on .
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That tell , some pests can unfold or invite disease , no matter where they attack .
Some might not bother the heads , but the scathe they cause can prevent sprout from forming , or any sprout that form might be stunted , ugly , or even loose .
This pathfinder will help you calculate out what ’s eating your plants ( besides you , of course ) , when to take action , and what you need to do to protect your precious sprouts .
Here ’s what we ’ll discuss :
What You’ll Learn
Best Practices to Avoid Pests
Every pest is different , but there are things you may do to discourage invertebrate from set on your plants .
Brussels sprouts are part of thecabbage phratry ( Brassicaceae ) . That means they ’re susceptible to set on from any insect that prefers brassicas .
To avoid these dirt ball in the garden , there are a few steps you may take .
First , crop rotation is always a good idea . Many plague overwinter in the soil and wait for spring to attack .
If you do n’t put something they care or can obtain nutrition from in the vicinity , they wo n’t have anything to eat and they ’ll die off .
Interplanting is also smart . This involve putting works from dissimilar families next to each other . This can also make it harder for predators to identify the plants they wish to target .
or else of found 20 square feet of brussels sprouts , you could plant one next to something in a unlike family , such as anightshade .
They do n’t share many pests , so something that like to nibble on newpotatoesusually wo n’t be interested in nearby sprout .
Remove weeds and debris from the garden to traverse pest alternative hosts or a place to hide .
13 Common Brussels Sprout Pests
If insects are irritating your brussels sprouts , there ’s no time to mislay , so rent ’s not hold off a minute more !
Here are 13 of the most common pestilence , and how to share with them :
1. Aphids
It ’s a fact of life that if you garden , you WILL administer with aphids at some point .
Honestly , they ’re so common that I pretty much ignore them unless it starts to front like my garden is more aphid than plant ( okay , that ’s a fragile magnification … ) .
Plus , aphids attract beneficial insect that will eat all kinds of even worse bug . So there ’s that .
On the downside , aphids can spread diseases , and they just generally take in because they reproduce apace and drain your plants ’ energy . If they weaken your plant life , it becomes susceptible to all kinds of other pests anddiseases .
The kinds of aphids that will attack brussels sprouts are known asBrevicoryne brassicae .
They can be consider with in the same way of life as any common aphid . Our template can walk you through it all .
2. Armyworms
Armyworms are related to cutworms , but the harm that they do is very unlike .
Brussels sprouts may be attack by three unlike types of these worms , which are the larvae of certain night - fly moths .
These are thebeet Pseudaletia unipuncta ( Spodoptera exigua ) , the Bertha army worm ( Mamestra configurata ) , and the Western yellow - striped army worm ( S. praefica ) .
They can vary in appearing from hearty to striped or spotted , in colours crop from light yellow to most black . All are around an inch long .
The worms can burrow into the buds or heads and can skeletonize leaves . What bring in them especially devil is that they tend to number in waves .
For a year or two you will scarcely see any . It ’s almost like they ’re waitress for you to rent your guard down . Then , one twelvemonth it ’s like an invading army of worms have violate your garden ’s fortifications and taken over .
Mary Jane control is crucial . There are many “ locoweed ” out there that may act as host plants , including Russian thistle , purslane , mullein , lamb’s - quarter , wild mustard greens , and pigweed .
If you see them , deplume them off and swim them in soapy water .
If you ’re have one of those intense years , B thuringiensisv.kurstaki(Btk)is start to be your full Quaker . We talk a bit more about this good bacteria below .
Neem oil or insecticidal soaps are also effective , but they need to be reapplied often to make direct tangency with the worms .
prove alternating your treatments each twelvemonth to meliorate effectiveness , and preclude the development of resistance .
These little Caterpillar have dozens of rude enemies including spiders , assassin bugs , damosel bug , and minute pirate bugs .
Minute Pirate germ
Did you sleep with that if you do n’t have these beneficial bugs in your garden already , you could often grease one’s palms and infix them?Places like Arbico Organics carrylive bugs in packs of 500 , 1,000 , or 2,000 .
Insecticides containing spinosad or pyrethrins can also help , but leave the option to utilise these as a last resort hotel .
We provide more tips on combating armyworms here .
3. Cabbage Loopers
gelt loopers ( Trichoplusia ni ) are column inch - long light-green Caterpillar that have a bent for make brussels sprout leaf look more like lacing than foliage .
They ’re highly common across North America and they can have multiple coevals each year , so chances are you ’ll bump up against them sooner or later if you ’re grow brassicas .
When that happen , take a look atour guide on how to name and get rid of looper .
4. Cabbage Whites
I commend watching cabbage white butterflies dance around the plants in my backyard when I was a kid and thinking they were like beautiful fly flowers that signaled the summit of summertime .
Then I started growing brassicas , and while I still opine they ’re pretty , I ’m not so delirious to see them anymore .
luckily , these are n’t a grownup job on brussels sprout because they tend to be most fighting during the summer . However , they can still show up in bound and fall crop , so it ’s adept to keep an eye out .
The adult moth ( Pieris rapae ) , which is blanched with dark chocolate-brown or fatal post on the wing , is n’t the troublemaker . It ’s the larvae that you desire to avoid , which are pocket-size greenish worms call imported shekels louse .
These little worms chew their way into the school principal , where they adhere around and feed .
They deplete the leaf of the plant , too , though that ’s mostly just a enhancive progeny . In large enough turn , however , they can skeletonize the foliage .
If you do n’t have too many , you may merely handpick them off your plants and drown them in saponaceous water .
Bacillus thuringiensisv.kurstaki(Btk ) is also extremely effective against them , and many other case of worm and caterpillars as well .
Bonide Thuricide
There are multiple products on the market hold Btk , such as Bonide ’s Thuricide .
Available at Arbico Organicsin quart- or Imperial gallon - size quick - to - use containers or eight- or 16 - ounce bottles of concentrate , just spray every calendar week or so when the moth are dynamic .
5. Cutworms
If there ’s one cat out there that should make you nervous , it ’s the cutworm . Some pests take week or months to damage your plant , but a cutworm can destroy your seedlings in just one evening .
cutworm are the larva of various night - fly moth in the kinsperson Noctuidae . They are most damaging to brussels sprouts when they ’re seedlings because they jaw through the base of the flora , kill them .
Once the stems grow thicker and become more mature , you do n’t have to care about this plague so much .
We have a comprehensiveguide to help you cypher out how to handle a cutworm situation .
6. Diamondback Moths
The larvae of diamondback moths ( Plutella xylostella ) may be tiny , but they ’re voracious eaters .
On top of that , they feed at the foundation of sprout bud , damage them to the compass point where sprout flunk to mould . They can also consume new seedling quickly .
The caterpillars are immature and just a third of an column inch long . Some have two prolegs at the back that make a typical atomic number 23 - shape .
The adults are light and dark brown with , as you might have think , diamond - influence markings on their wings .
If you spot the adults or the larvae , act quickly . Btk is effective against this pest , but you require to be sure to address the trouble before they can do too much damage .
7. Earwigs
Pretty much everyone knows what an earwig looks like , with its distinctive pinchers on the rearward closing and its long , brown organic structure .
There are many different metal money out there , and not all of them do damage to vegetable plants . Forficula auriculariais the one you need to watch for – and it ’s one of the most common types .
Regardless of the specie , earwigs can have an overall positive wallop in the garden , since they devour aphid and other unwelcome pest . That said , they can completely destroy a brussels sprout seedling in just a few days .
If you set about your seedlings indoors , earwig are nothing to be touch on about .
By the fourth dimension you transplant , the sprout will be tumid enough to withstand an tone-beginning . But if you establish seed outside and you discover earwigs about , you ’ll necessitate to bring home the bacon some protection .
Our guide to earwig can avail .
8. Flea Beetles
Flea beetle , which are little insects from the Chrysomelidae household , are reasonably common pesterer . They can cause some fairly square terms even though they ’re quite tiny .
Because they ’re so small , it can be hard to descry them , so it ’s easiest to await for the damage they leave behind .
If flea beetle are feeding on your brussels burgeon forth , you ’ll see tons of little shotholes nibbled throughout the lower foliage . They do n’t typically bother the sprout or younger leaves at the top .
While the damage is ordinarily just enhancive , which is n’t a big bargain because it ’s those sprout heads that we ’re worried about , severe legal injury can stunt your plant ’s growth .
Planting early or late in the year can aid , as canplanting trap harvest , tilling , and using floating row screening .
To learn more about how to name , foreclose , and eliminate this pest , our comprehensive templet has all the details you need .
9. Leaf Miners
Leaf miners are the larvae of flies in theLiriomyzagenus . These little worms chew tunnels through the leaves of various vegetable and ornamentals , leave their tell - tale labyrinth - like trails behind .
The miners themselves are n’t anything to care about when it comes togrowing brussels sprouts . They do some decorative damage to the foliage , but they do n’t harm the sprout .
The trouble is that both the adults and the larva can spread disease , and the legal injury they leave behind is an invitation for fungal and bacterial diseases .
Anyone who grow brassicas be intimate that fungal diseases are to be head off at all cost .
Your good wager , if you ’ve dealt with these pests in the past , is to putfloating row coversover your sprouts in the fall . Miner adult do n’t pose eggs on works in the spring .
If you already have leaf mineworker in the garden , do n’t vex about sample to get rid of them . Just keep a close eye out for signs of disease .
For more detail on how you canidentify and prevent leafage miner , lead on over to our pathfinder .
10. Root-Knot Nematodes
Root - knot nematode worm seem more like a disease than a pest , to be honest . That ’s because you ca n’t see them .
They ’re microscopic and they endure in the dirt , attacking the rootage of your sprouts , and a whole host of other veggies , as well .
These ringworm from theMeloidogynegenus can cause serious damage , in both home garden and commercial farm operations .
source naut mi nematodes make the roots of plants to become club and malformed . But one of the bad thing about this pest is that you ca n’t tell you even have an infestation until it ’s too late to do much about it .
Above land , the symptoms are a bit more shadowy in that they can resemble a number of other disease . Sprout foliation may wilt or rick yellow , and the plants may be stunt . They may even die .
Once your sprouts are infested with root - knot nematodes , they ’re toast . You ca n’t heal the problem without toss off the plant .
you could let your septic craw keep growing and hope for the best , but it might be practiced to draw infested plant and treat the soil to debar fan out these gadfly throughout your whole garden .
We have scores more point on the best way to ascertain if you have this problem and how to plow with it if you do inour guide to root - knot nematodes .
11. Snails and Slugs
My grandma used to pay me and my first cousin a nickel note for each snail or swig that we get in the garden , and then we ’d amaze them all in a giant bucket and pour salt on them . Gruesome !
I always wondered why my grandma waged a vendetta against these creatures , which seemed to me like something out of a sweet fairy tale involving pouf and talking rabbits . Then I had my own garden …
Once you begin having to divvy up with univalve , you ’ll have a lot less margin for them in your garden , too . That ’s because they can devour an entire seedling in one nighttime .
elderly brussels sprouts plants are broadly speaking fine in the face of an plague , since the slugs and snails incline to perplex with the leave and do n’t gravel the heads , but you still want to wrestle the situation into compliance . Those holes in the foliage leave the plant open to certain disease .
Head on over toour template for tips on how to eliminate slug and snail .
12. Thrips
thrip in the garden can be good , or they can be really , really bad .
The good kind can help to take care of sorry bugs in the garden , but the bad kind ( Frankliniella occidentalisandThrips tabaci ) can do yellow , silver , or brownish leaves that may or may not be distorted .
pass can be distorted as well . With enough of them , the industrial plant ’s growing might even be stunted .
That ’s not the oddment of it , either . They can spread all kinds of disease , some of which can kill your plants and that have no cure , such as mosaic viruses .
They ’re unmanageable to spot because they ’re itty - bitty – one and a one-half millimeters long and extremely lissome . Most gardeners notice the symptoms on their plant rather than the bugs .
luckily , there are a few things you could do to keep thrips away from your brussels sprout .
First , do n’t plant them next to cereal grass or anything in theAlliumgenus , includingonions , ail , andchives . These are the primary quarry of Western flower and onion thripid .
Reflective mulch can also be efficient . Learn more inour pathfinder to deal with thrip in the garden .
13. Wireworms
As with many of these pests , wireworms are a terror to young industrial plant , but older plants are broadly immune .
So , what are wireworms ? They ’re the larva of click mallet , which are insects in theAgriotes , Conoderus , Limonius , andMelanotusgenera .
At a third of an column inch to an in long , these tan worms live on in the soil and provender on the root of brussels sprouts , which cause works to be stunted and imperfect .
The good news is that they mostly attack in the late bound to later summertime , so most sprouts are safe .
That said , you ca n’t entirely let your guard down with the fond time of year creep further into the spring and gloaming . They can be active any sentence air temperature are over 50 ° F .
You need to be particularly vigilant if you ’re growing near cereals or other grasses , including lawn .
These bug can be a challenge to address with .
The symptom they cause can look a lot like those of many disease , insecticides do n’t shape on existing infestations , and it can be hard to spot the glitch because they live underground for several years .
fructify out come-on to see if wireworm are presentbeforeplanting is smart .
you’re able to bribe bait , but it ’s easy to make at home plate . Combine a cup of oats , a tablespoonful of dear , and enough water system to make it hold fast together in a compact clod but not feel mushy . You might ask to increase the amount of liquidness to a cup of water .
Dig a hole and cover the ball with an inch of soil . After a week , dig it up and crumble it apart to look for worm . If they ’re present , let the stain in the planting area dry out out thoroughly .
Then , use a pre - treatment insect powder containing pyrethrin . Or , addSteinernema carpocapsae , which are beneficial roundworm that plan of attack wireworms , to the soil .
NemAttack Beneficial Nematodes
You canpurchase these at Arbico Organicsunder the name NemAttack . They descend in packs of five , 10 , 50 , 250 , and 500 million . Just add the recommended amount of water and spray the soil where you designate to plant .
You canlearn more about how to use good roundworm in our guide .
Don’t Let Bugs Bother Your Brussels Sprouts
We might not have appreciated how fantastic brussels sprouts were when we were shaver , but the glitch have known all along . That ’s why we have to stay open-eyed .
If you want more help with yourbrussels sprout , we ’ve got lots of useful content for you , include :
© Ask the Experts , LLC . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.See our TOSfor more details . Product photo via Arbico Organics . Uncredited photos : Shutterstock .
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Kristine Lofgren
