Diamondback Diversion

This article appeared in "The Grower," June-July 1999.

Providing a heaping helping of collard greens may provide relief from the diamondback moth for cabbage, broccoli, and other cole-crop growers.

Everett R. Mitchell, entomologist, USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Gainesville, Florida, is experimenting with collard greens as a trap-crop planted around the edges of cabbage fields. “Invading diamondback moths stop and deposit their eggs on the collards rather than on adjacent cabbage plants,” he said. “Diamondback populations continue to recycle in collards as long as plants remain green, and continue to grow.”

Tests for two years show minimal cabbage damage from the moths’ larvae. The quantity and quality of cabbage produced equaled that from conventionally sprayed fields. “Cabbage fields surrounded by collards required 75 to 100 percent fewer sprays to control diamondback moths than fields treated conventionally with pesticides,” Mitchell said. “That’s a huge savings for farmers.”