WHAT ARE THE WHITE-COLORED BUTTERFLIES FLYING AROUND?
WILL THEY FEED ON MY CROPS? The beautiful white butterflies flying around are the Cabbage Butterfly, Clouded Sulphur, and Alfalfa Butterfly (more yellowish than white)! The Cabbage Butterfly prefers to feed on cabbage, broccoli, kale and other Brassicae plants. So, one could find it in canola. Fortunately, most of the canola is being swathed within the next few weeks. Clouded Sulphurs feed on clovers, sweet clovers, and alfalfa; where as the Alfalfa Butterfly prefers alfalfa, but can feed on clovers and other legumes. Normally, these butterflies are not pests in forage-legume crops grown in this area. The larvae or caterpillars of the Clouded Sulphur and Alfalfa Butterfly are velvety green caterpillars with a double lateral strip (white on top of red). The caterpillar of the Cabbage butterfly is green with a white lateral strip. These butterflies will NOT FEED on most of the our later crops flax, sunflower, and small grains. Check out the “Atlas of North Dakota Butterflies” web site: h
