Cabbage Butterfly
Pieris brassicae
📖 Description
Cabbage Butterfly is the most destructive pest of brassica vegetables across the Indian subcontinent, particularly severe in cabbage and cauliflower belts of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Karnataka hills. The gregarious feeding habit of larvae means a single egg cluster can defoliate a young plant within days. Beyond direct defoliation, fecal contamination renders cabbage heads unmarketable. Bt-based biopesticides provide excellent control when applied against early instars in the cool evening hours. The classical larval parasitoid Cotesia glomerata, which lays dozens of eggs in a single caterpillar, is a major natural enemy and should be conserved by avoiding broad-spectrum insecticides during the growing season.
⚠️ Symptoms to watch for
- Initial window-pane feeding by young larvae on leaf undersides, then complete skeletonization leaving only midribs and veins, fecal pellets contaminating cabbage heads, contamination making produce unmarketable, yield loss 30-70%
🩹 Treatment
- Handpick egg masses and larval clusters from young plants, spray Bacillus thuringiensis @ 1 g/L on young larvae, apply NSKE 5%, use need-based insecticide when 2 larvae per plant on cabbage before head formation
🌿 Organic treatments
- Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki @ 1-2 g/L (very effective), NSKE 5%, neem oil 5 ml/L, spray Beauveria bassiana @ 5 g/L, release Cotesia glomerata @ 10000/ha (larval parasitoid), trap adults with yellow pan traps
🧪 Chemical treatments
- Emamectin benzoate 5 SG @ 0.3 g/L, Chlorantraniliprole 18.5 SC @ 0.3 ml/L, Novaluron 10 EC @ 1 ml/L, Indoxacarb 14.5 SC @ 0.5 ml/L, Flubendiamide 39.35 SC @ 0.2 ml/L
🛡️ Prevention
- Use nylon net (40 mesh) nursery covers, install bird perches to encourage avian predation, intercrop with tomato or carrot to disrupt oviposition, plant mustard as trap crop around cabbage (50-1 ratio), destroy crop residues after harvest, sow early to escape peak larval period
🪴 Affected plants
- Cabbage, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Radish, Mustard, Turnip, Knol-khol, Other Brassicas
🦋 Natural predators
- Cotesia glomerata, Hyposter sp., Birds, Spiders, Robber Flies, Predatory Bugs
🌱 Host plants
- Brassica oleracea var. capitata, Brassica oleracea var. botrytis, Raphanus sativus, Brassica juncea
🔄 Lifecycle
- Female lays 200-400 eggs in clusters on leaf underside.
- Eggs hatch in 3-7 days.
- Larvae feed gregariously for 15-25 days through 5 instars.
- Pupation on crop or nearby structures, lasting 7-15 days (longer in winter).
- Adult lifespan 7-15 days.
- Total life cycle 30-45 days; 5-7 generations per year.
📅 Season
- September-April (cool season), peaks Nov-Feb
🔎 Appearance
- Adult is a large white butterfly with black tips on forewings and black spot on forewing margin in females.
- Larva is a velvety green caterpillar with a faint yellow dorsal stripe and black dots; covered with short fine hairs.
- Eggs are yellow, conical, ribbed, laid in clusters of 20-100 on leaf undersides.
💥 Damage level
- Severe
🔁 Reproduction rate
- Rapid
🗺️ Geographic regions
- Indian Subcontinent
- South Asia
- Europe
- Asia
- North Africa
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