Cabbage Looper
A pale green caterpillar with thin white lines down its sides that humps its back into a loop as it walks, because it has no legs in the middle. It chews big ragged holes and packs the center of a cabbage head with dark droppings.
Pest checklist
Four things to look for. If most of them match what you are holding, you are in the right place.
What gets rid of them
Gentlest option first. For most backyard cases the first one is enough, so try these in order and stop as soon as it works. If you do spray something, the product label tells you how — please read the notice further down.
1Pick them off
Look under leaves and into the center of the plant twice a week and drop the caterpillars into soapy water.
Try this first2Cover the bed
Put floating row cover or insect netting over brassicas at planting and seal the edges so the moths cannot lay eggs.
insect netting garden row cover3Spray Bt while they are small
A Bt product sprayed on the leaf undersides kills caterpillars and nothing else. Repeat as the label allows while new ones keep hatching.
bt thuringiensis caterpillar spray4Leave the paper wasps alone
Paper wasps hunt these caterpillars all summer. If a nest is not near a doorway or path, leaving it up is real pest control.
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Which plants get cabbage looper
Every plant we cover that gets cabbage looper, grouped by type — tap any one to open its page. A note beside a plant came from that plant’s own entry, because the same pest can be a minor nuisance on one plant and a serious problem on another. Plenty of plants we do not cover get it too.
biennial1
annuals13
BeetBeta vulgaris
BroccoliBrassica oleracea var. italica
Brussels SproutsBrassica oleracea var. gemmifera
CabbageBrassica oleracea var. capitata
CauliflowerBrassica oleracea var. botrytis
CeleryApium graveolens
Collard GreensBrassica oleracea var. viridis
KaleBrassica oleracea
KohlrabiBrassica oleracea var. gongylodes
LettuceLactuca sativa
PeaPisum sativum
SpinachSpinacia oleracea
TomatoSolanum lycopersicum
Plant families hit hardest
Related plants often share the same problems, so if one plant in a family has it, check the others. The largest group here is Brassicaceae, with 7 of the 14 affected plants.
- Brassicaceae7 plants
- Amaranthaceae2 plants
- Apiaceae2 plants
When to treat
Treat while the caterpillars are small, from July on when the moths arrive from the south; a full-grown looper eats about as much as five smaller cabbage caterpillars put together.
Timing only — the label is the law
This page tells you when to watch for cabbage looper and when treating is worth considering. It is not a recommendation to apply any particular product. Read and follow the product label before you spray — under federal law the label is the legal instruction, and using a pesticide against it is illegal.
- Check the pre-harvest interval. Every product that’s cleared for an edible crop sets a minimum number of days between spraying and picking. Find it on the label before you spray anything you intend to eat.
- Check the re-entry interval before you or anyone else works in the treated area again, and use the protective equipment the label names.
- Confirm the product is registered for your crop in your state. This page groups many different crops together, and a product legal on one of them is not legal on all of them — state registrations differ too. Your state pesticide agency or local extension office can confirm both.
- Rates and mixing instructions come from the label, never from us. We don’t publish them because they differ by product and formulation.
Other problems on the same plants
If a plant gets cabbage looper, these are the problems it most often gets as well, so they are worth checking for while you are out there. They tend to appear together; one does not cause another.