Squirrels and Cabbage Worms...Oh My!

I really don't know why I keep trying to grow brassicas of any kind in the spring here. For this area, it really is a fall crop, but hope springs eternal with me. And lets face it, I'm craving some tender Brussels sprouts, crunchy broccoli and rich purple cauliflower. Okay, I'll stop drooling and get to business.

Purple Cauliflower looks healthy but...

The holes are from a hailstorm last week but the chewed leaves are just that, chewed! The brazen and hungry cabbage moth caterpillars have been having a heyday over here. When very early spring starts here, I always here people oohing and aahing over the dainty white moths that go flitting here and yon. I groan. I flicked the ones I could find off but I'll be honest, they creep me out.

Sacrificial Brussel sprout plant with cabbage worms.

If you look at the second to the top leaf, you can see a nice big worm but believe me when I say there are several. This is a sacrificial plant, sort of like a scapegoat. I noticed last year that the moths laid their eggs mostly on the larger and more healthy plants, leaving those that lag in growth alone. So this year I tried an experiment by starting a sprout plant last fall outside, mulching in a protected area to winter over, and then planting it in a bed far away from where the other brassicas would go. It actually worked a bit. Almost all the worms were found here, in this plant. The purple cauliflower had some, but they grew very quickly, and only a few were found in any other plants. Its something to think on for sure.

Ravaged sweet corn bed.

My experimental bed that should hold sweet corn for the three sisters method looks like a minefield. Squirrels keep digging up the corn, even after it is well sprouted, eating the nub and then leaving the poor plant just lying there. I've started more inside to transplant once big enough to be nubless.

Close up of the damage.

Here you can see the holes from the squirrels' digging and a baby corn plant, now rootless, lying there just to taunt with all it's lost potential.

I did try netting, but they just squeeze through somehow. I've got to get psychological on those critters, but how can I consistently psych out a squirrel?