Today we're talking about growing kale, very popular plant to grow, one of my favorite plants to grow in fact, and we had a question on Instagram as far as how to protect your kale from Caterpillars from

Kalin S so Kalin thanks for sending that in I try to do these

Instagram Q&As to get some topic ideas for you guys.

So always make sure to follow over on Instagram

if you would like a chance for your question to make it in here.

So the caterpillars that Kalin is referring to

are the cabbage loopers or cabbage worms. Those are the ones that typically

decimate kale. Now, there are a multitude of ways to get rid of them, but first of all, let's talk a little bit about the

life cycle of these pests. So first of all, if you notice a white moth flying

around and that moth has a black dot on the tail end of its wing.

That is your cabbage moth of some varieties, a couple of varieties,

but basically that's the way to identify them.

You need to make sure that those do not land on your kale and lay eggs.

You can literally watch it happen. You'll watch them land and then after they land go to the spot where they landed,

usually on the underside of a leaf or close to one of the ribs of the

kale, and you'll see a little dimple or a little pimple almost looking thing.

It's a light green, sort of a light lime green color, and that is the egg. So if you see those, you're

going to want to brush those off. I usually have a toothbrush that I clearly don't use for brushing my teeth anymore, and I will just brush those off if it's a very quick issue

But honestly the best way that I've ever found to prevent these cabbage moths from laying their eggs because they lay their eggs

then the eggs hatch and then the caterpillars start to munch away and they really

can go wild and are very difficult to see sometimes especially if the egg is laid near the crown of the plant.

Right down in there, it can be difficult to spot either the egg or the caterpillar.

...