If you're positive there are no caterpillars then you should go out at night and check for slugs. The little bugs flying around sound like fungus gnats caused from having the mix in the pot too wet or from having a dirt/compost component in the potting mix. Their larva can do damage to the roots if they are in high enough concentrations but they don't damage leaves. What size pot is? What type of mix is it planted in? How much are you watering? And how much sun does the plant get? Rodney

I was talking to a very elderly lady earlier this week so told me her neighbor watered his veg garden with fresh ocean water (we live in a coastal area) during drought and it thrived. I was sceptical but this woman is an amazingÃÂ gardener herself and is in her 80's. Wisdom and experience I trust. .. I also saw some youtube films about a guy who does this too and it seems to work. Curiouser and Curiouser. ..

The best time to control these is before they infest the rotos, once in the roots they are very difficult to do anything about. These are the larva of a small fly that lays its eggs in the soil near the plants roots and when the larva hatch they invade those roots. Floating row covers will help keep the adult flies from the plants as will some kind of impervious barrier (some sources say a roofing shingle) around the plant as a collar. Some control of the larva might be obtained with parasitic nematodes. But if these larva have invaded the plants roots there is not much you can do except destroy the plants.

I too got involved in setting up my daughter's science class with cabbages from bonnie plants. What a great program! the variety is O.H. Cross which gets huge. I would say 15-20 pounds but doubt 50 pounds unless you live in alaska (cool and 20 hours of sun in summer?). The cabbage issue is cabbage looper and cabbage worm. We sprayed ours once a week with BT. Also called Dipel under one manufacturer's trademark. It is a dead bacteria in suspension. Totally safe and organic. It acts as a gut poison on caterpillers only (lepidopterus larvae). I just mix it in a quart mister bottle and mist once a week on the foliage. My daughter had the second biggest cabbage in her class. The winner was bigger but looked like swiss cheese with all the holes in it. At least we could eat ours. Hooray to Bonnie Plants as a fantastic program on their part.