So long cabbage butterflies...for now

**H*@aol.com**

The European Cabbage Butterfly has been a problem for growers  of cole 
crops ever since it became established in the U. S.  For better or  worse this 
two inch butterfly has become a hallmark of late spring and summer as  they 
lightly flutter through farms, gardens and meadows looking for appropriate  
places to propagate where their developing caterpillars ravage the likes of  
cabbage and broccoli.  The white and light yellow butterflies, even though  
an economic evil have become an important part of the summer landscape.   
But not this year.  It dawned on me last week that I hadn't seen a single  
cabbage butterfly on my upstate NY property all season.  I then checked on  the 
downstate property and none there either.  I checked on Long Island and  
while a few have been sighted the numbers are minute compared to most  years.  
I then checked with a Cornell entomologist and sure enough he said  I was 
the second person who had brought this to his attention.

The consensus is that the wet and cool spring has provided an  abundance of 
fungi that infect the caterpillar state of development much like  the 
Entomophaga maimaga infects the gypsy moth caterpillar in certain  years.  I 
suspect, but have no way of knowing that it may be the same  pathogen that's 
doing in the Cabbage butterfly as experiments have shown that  Entomophaga can 
affect at least 30 species of butterflies.

Don't think you'll find much on this elsewhere so just  wondering how many 
list readers are noticing the same phenom with the cabbage  butterfly?

I did note that in a recent butterfly count in nearby  Greenwich, Ct. had 
counted 21 cabbage whites in their recent annual census but  there was no 
indication what the counts had been in previous years.

Andrew

Andrew Messinger
The Hampton Gardener

The Hampton Gardener is a Registered Trade  Mark
(Published every Thursday in the Southampton Press, The Press and the  
Easthampton Press)

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