Cabbage worms aren't worms at all! They're caterpillars and they absolutely LOVE cabbage and other brassicas.

You'll often see these critters all up in your cruciferous as the weather cools, when your plants are livin' / laughin' / lovin'. They love taking advantage of the abundance as your brassica production comes into full-swing.

Here in the low desert, that's the winter cool season. Further North, shoulder seasons are the best time for brassicaceae and their leaf-loving cabbage worms.

cabbage worms from garden seen in a bowl
Bowl of cabbage worms that were caught making a snack out of some cauliflower & brussel sprouts

Let Trichogramma Fight Your Cabbage Worms

Trichogramma sp. is a minute endoparisitoid wasp.

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. Refer to the privacy policy for more information.

These are tiny, much smaller even than a fruit fly. They don't sting and don't bite humans.

What they do is parasitize over 200 species of moth and caterpillar eggs.

For cabbage worms, trichogramma lay their eggs inside the cabbage worm eggs, where the wasps hatch and consume the cabbage worm. This results in more trichogramma and less cabbage worms.

cauliflower with cabbage worm leaf damage holes in leaves
Cauliflower with cabbage worm leaf damage

Cabbage Worms as Food for Birds

A lot of birds really like eating cabbage worms. Be careful not to eliminate all the food that would entice more birds into your garden - they need to eat too!

There are a ton of benefits of having birds in your garden, and balancing cabbage worm populations is just one of them.

Get You Some Chickens for Garden Pest Control

Chickens love cabbage worms!

They'll gladly pluck these juicy morsels off your leaves for you - though they'll definitely take a chicken tax on some tasty greens, too.



Not sure if it's worth letting chickens in your garden, but if you have experience with this we'd love to hear from you in the comments!

I've also heard that quail and ducks make great garden pest pluckers, and may be better about not eating your hard-grown veggies than chickens.


Looking for ways to control other garden pests naturally? Check out the full guide here.