Poooor Kale

I was so excited to have fresh heirloom lacinato kale growing into November. Sigh. Unfortunately this is what they looked like on September 3rd.


I have about 6 plants now, and although they are a little bigger they still are all eaten up just like in the picture. It is the darn imported cabbage worms. I guess they like kale as much as I do. I've been pulling them off the kale at a rate of around 6 or more every other day.

As mentioned in my last post about these evil catepillars, I went out and bought BT- the organic pesticide that is supposed to stop them. But after buying it I read some stuff that really made me worry about using pesticides, even if they are organic. So I'm just chalking it up to experience this year, and trying to pick off as many as I can by hand.

Next year I'm going to using row covers. I found this great site with lots of information on it's products: http://groworganic.com/default.html?welcome=T&theses=3550316 From what I have read, it seems the Agribon is the way to go. It is expensive, but since my garden is small I can get the smallest quantity they have which will be about $50 and last for hopefully at least 3 seasons. In that case, it seems pretty cost effective if it keeps these darn worms off my whole crop.