The Cabbage White Butterfly

For the gardener, the large (Pieris brassicae) and small white (Pieris rapae) butterflies can be a real pest as they lay their eggs on your prize brassica plants (kale, cabbage, broccoli, etc). Hence their common name: Cabbage White Butterflies. Once the eggs hatch, the caterpillars can demolish a plant in mere days. Undoubtedly, the large white is the more destructive of the two.

In this short video (Video 1), the female large white is stationary while the male does all the frantic fluttering. The male cabbage white butterfly did have a competitor so it is unclear whether the female had chosen her preferred partner or not.

Video 1: Male & Female Large White Butterflies

After fertilization, the female needs to find a host plant to lay her eggs. While her preference may be for a cultivated brassica (e.g. cabbage), she will use other plants such as turnip (Brassica rapa) and swede (Brassica napus) and may fly several miles to find them.

I always put my brassicas in a netted cage because, to be honest, I've got bigger and better things to do with my time than regular inspection of the Brassica patch for cabbage white eggs and caterpillars. The next video (Video 2) shows a female large white trying to access the underside of a cauliflower leaf to lay its eggs.

Video 2: Female Large White Butterfly Denied Access to My Brassica Plants!

I read somewhere that the future existence of these butterflies would be in doubt if they cannot access the right plants to lay their eggs on. I have not noticed a decline in either of these two species over the years I have been gardening so either that claim is an exaggeration or they are, indeed, finding alternatives to my brassica plants. Last year, I'm fairly certain they used my neighbour's small unnetted brassica patch as the caterpillar nursery.

Anyway, no time to waste. It is the high season (August) for the cabbage white caterpillars and I need to start harvesting the red cabbages and calabrese.