How To Clean Out A Worm Farm When It Is Gooey

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Many years agone, when I had my kickoff broccoli harvest from my very own garden, I was talking to my mom about the pesky green broccoli worms hiding in the nooks and crannies. She told me near the uncomplicated kitchen trick that she used that might just be the easiest style to get worms out of broccoli. Of course, you can eat the worms. My sister ate one concluding yr on cooked broccoli and said it tasted like broccoli. 🙂 I'1000 just not that hungry – most of the fourth dimension. I did fry upwards some i morning for breakfast with my eggs and broccoli.

The Easiest Way to Get Worms Out of Broccoli

Here's mom'south tip to get worms out of broccoli: Simply fill a basin with hot salt h2o and dump the broccoli florets in. Allow sit around 20 minutes, swishing vigorously with your paw every so often to dislodge the more stubborn unwelcome guests. I don't measure exactly, I just throw virtually a scattering of canning or table salt in my Rubbermaid dish pan. (BTW, this dish pan is really handy for toting dish water and rinse water out to water my flowers. Salt h2o like this gets dumped on the gravel to kill unwanted weeds.)

Why warm water? When hit with common cold temperatures, the natural react is to contract – or potentially hold on tighter. Warm water is relaxing, similar a nice little broccoli worm hot tub. They relax, let go, and the common salt does its job.

Later on soaking, drain in a colander and rinse with cold water. Apply correct abroad, refrigerate in a sealed container so it doesn't get limp, or process for storage.

My friend, Chris, at Joybilee Farms uses a similar method to get rid of broccoli worms, but she uses cold salt water and adds 2 tablespoons of vinegar.

Soaking the broccoli. The pink canning jars are a batch of pickled beets I just finished.

Draining the broccoli in my over the sink strainer.

straining broccoli to remove broccoli worms

All the worms that used to exist hiding in a sink full of broccoli.

Broccoli Worms in the Garden

I have used Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) spray in the past to keep the broccoli worms in check in the garden, but reconsidered after researching more most what effects Bt may have on good for you gut bacteria. (Y'all can read more than about this in the post, "Would You Feed Your Kids Pesticide Fries?") You can as well utilise a low-cal dusting of diatomaceous earth.

Right now, my worm control tactic is simply to make sure my broccoli and other related crops are in very rich soil with lots of nitrogen and ample water. (You lot can read more at 5 Tips to Abound Big Broccoli Heads.) Healthy crops are naturally more than pest resistant. They become attacked less and tin grow fast enough to overcome whatsoever impairment. Companion plants such as strongly scented flowers (like chamomile) and herbs such as sage and dill can help ward off cabbage butterflies.

I also encourage birds, frogs, toads and beneficial insects in the garden to help with broccoli worm control. I've seen all of these critters hunting in the garden. Below is a yellowjacket removing a cabbage worm from a Red Russian kale plant. Yous can read more about how to encourage beneficial insects in the the post "The Ulitmate Guide to Natural Pest Control in the Garden".

Broccoli Recipes

Once you lot take your broccoli clean, you may enjoy these recipes:

Broccoli, Bacon and Cheese Salad
Homemade Broccoli Soup

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P.S. In the time honored tradition of "crazy things I do equally a blogger", to get a skillful photograph of the broccoli and the worm, I grabbed this critter out from where he was hiding underneath and had him strike a pose on the broccoli. If they all hung out on height like this, it would be much easier to get worms out of broccoli. 😉