These are white with black spots on the wings. The abdomen is a more creamy color. They lay white to golden-yellow spherical eggs in clusters of 50 or more and are sometimes coated with moth hairs.
The larva are covered with long and short hairs. The furry caterpillar may be light yellow, brownish-yellow, red, or white. It usually has a darker head.
This pest eats flowers, stems, leaves, fruit, and more. They can skeletonize a whole plant if the infestation is large enough. Doesn't seem to be too picky about it. Some vegetable hosts include asparagus, bean, beet, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celery, corn, eggplant, onion, parsnip, pea, potato, pumpkin, radish, rhubarb, salsify, squash, sweet potato, and turnip.
Controls include Trichogramma wasps and Bacillus thuringiensis and the granulosis virus. Also spray with fast stream of water to loosen up eggs. A nice soapy/listerine water spray should coat the pests so they stop breathing and die and smother eggs. But be careful because some soaps are too strong. Better yet, get an organic horticultural oil and follow directions.
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