Caterpillars invading my mint plant!

by Charlie

Hi,
I live in Mallorca and in trying to embrace the outside way of life, I started growing various herbs and veg.

My mint plant started very well but quickly became invaded by little green caterpillars who ate the lot!!!

I have been left with bare stems - no good for my mojitos at sunset.

What can I do to get rid of the little munchers?

Bearing in mind that you cannot get such a wide range of pesticides here as you can in England. Is there anything non-chemical I can try?

Thanks

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Problem here is that you want to digest the mint - floating in your julep or chopped up in a mint sauce, you're going to ingest it in some form.

You could make a spray out of elder - take about one pound of young leaves and stems and boil them in 6 pints of water - for metric that's half a kilo to 3.5 litres water.

Boil for about 30 minutes then cool and strain.

You can spray this on your plants and it will help to control aphids and young caterpillars.

The problem with using sprays of any kind of course is that it could affect beneficial insects as well - bees for instance may be harmed by some applications, so you have to be really careful.

You could cover your mint with a fine net which will allow water in but not butterflies/moths to lay their eggs.

This would work for next year of course if you cover them at the first sign of butterflies.


Did you notice any butterflies hovering around your mint plants?

The other alternative is to pick the caterpillars off by hand and put them into a bucket of soapy water.

Likewise, if you see any eggs, dispose of those.

When I was a child, my great aunt used to get me to do that off her vegetable plants in the garden - she didn't really like children I think and so it was a way of getting me out of her house so she could talk to my parents without me butting in!!

Whatever you do, make sure you wash the mint throughly before you use it.

Mint does grown incredibly quickly so if you're vigilant, then new shoots should provide you with sprigs for your mojitos quite soon!
If you go down the pesticide route, then I can only recommend that you go into your local garden centre and read the labels - make sure that whatever you get is suitable for use on food plants and bee friendly.

I have a section on organic gardening if you want to have a quick look - there is a little more information about making organic fertilizers and other pest control methods.

The thing to be aware of with organic methods is that it can take a while for nature to get the right balance - in the meantime, you need to find eco-friendly ways of coping with what you don't want - eg caterpillars eating your mint!


Hope that helps.

Liz