I get a lot of emails from all sorts of lovely gardeners. One of the recurring questions is “how can I grow broccoli without having insects all over it?”
Well, I can really relate because I struggled with that in my early days as a new gardener. Fortunately, I’m always learning new things and feel I have this down to a science now!
If you aren’t growing broccoli but another cabbage family crop, all of the information in this video will be useful. Here’s a list of members of this popular plant family, Brassicaceae:
- Arugula
- Broccoli
- Brussels sprouts
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Collards
- Kale
- Kohlrabi
- Pak choi
- Radishes
- Rutabagas
- Turnips
Those are a lot of popular veggies, aren’t they? And they taste so much better when they haven’t been inundated with bugs! The three most common types of insects on them are aphids, cabbage worms and slugs.
When you grow broccoli or those other crops, you really need to have some strategies. And when it comes to aphids and cabbage worms, the best method is to use row covers. That way, they can’t get to the plants. In this video, I’ll show you my two favorite types of row covers. I also want to add that, years ago, I used bridal veil netting (tulle). Unfortunately, the holes were large enough for aphids to get through. And tulle is very delicate so it was always tearing. I definitely don’t recommend using it any more. As I like to say, bridal veil netting is for weddings!
If you have issues with slugs, I provide four methods for dealing with them, too. So you can see this video is packed with useful information.
Just in case you miss it in the video, my favorite broccoli variety is ‘Belstar’. It is so prolific and the plants are HUGE.
Here is my Grow Bug-Free Broccoli video:
Did you enjoy this week’s video? I have 600+ gardening videos on my YouTube channel. I also have a Vegetable Gardening Videos playlist so you can pick and choose what you’d like to watch.