What's Eating My Brussels Sprouts?
A crop that stands in the garden from spring to frost gives pests a long window. Aphids in particular treat the sprouts themselves as apartments — check early, check often.
The usual suspects
Cabbage aphids
The signs: Gray waxy colonies packed between sprout leaves, sooty smears, sticky film — often invisible until you split a sprout.
What it looks like: Powder-gray aphids in dense crusted clusters.
What to do: Blast developing sprouts with water weekly, soap-spray early, and remove lower leaves as sprouts form to reduce cover.
Cabbageworms and loopers
The signs: Ragged foliage holes all season and frass collecting in the leaf axils.
What it looks like: Green caterpillars — velvet crawlers or looping inchers.
What to do: Netting from transplant, handpicking, Bt while small.
Harlequin bugs
The signs: Wilting and pale mottled blotches in warm climates.
What it looks like: Black bugs with orange geometry; striped barrel eggs beneath leaves.
What to do: Handpick, crush eggs, remove wild brassica weeds.
Flea beetles
The signs: Pinhole spray across young transplants.
What it looks like: Tiny jumping black beetles.
What to do: Cover early; established plants power through.
When it's not a pest at all
Loose, leafy sprouts that never firm up are a heat and timing issue — this crop wants to mature in cool weather. Frost doesn't hurt them; it sweetens them.
Or just point your phone at it
Snap a photo of the leaf, the bug, or the droppings, and Harold — the advisor built into Homestead Paradise — names what he sees, tells you friend or foe, and what he'd do next. Honest when he's unsure, and careful where it counts.
Put Harold's Eyes on it — free 14-day trial