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University of California Cooperative Extension Ventura County
669 County Square Drive, Suite 100
Ventura, CA 93003
Phone: 805.645.1451
Fax: 805.645.1474
Office Hours:
Monday - Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The office will be closed for the following holidays:
December 24-25 - Christmas Holiday
December 31 - January 1 - New Year Holiday
January 20 - MLK Day
Cabbage Looper
The cabbage looper may be more familiar to you under the name “inch worm.” The adult cabbage looper is a dull brownish-gray moth. The female flies about at night laying individual eggs on the underside of the leaves of mint and also broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce, celery, chard, and other leafy garden vegetables. The eggs produce a green worm, which grows from one to one-and-a-half inches long at maturity. The worms feed most actively at night and retreat to lower leaves near the ground during the day. They will be hard to see because they are the same color as the plant. They will be on the underside of the leaves, and they will be quiet (inactive) during the day. When they move, they “inch” or “loop” along.
Hand picking is usually not a successful way to manage these insects because they are so hard to find. Therefore, sprays are needed to keep this insect from extensively damaging your garden.
Cabbage loopers will chew holes in the leaves of all cruciferous crops and lettuce as well as mint. Control efforts should begin as soon as the first signs of damage (holes in leaves) are evident. Controls applied when the caterpillars are young are more effective than controls applied when caterpillars are nearing maturity.