Full question:
I’ve planted some cabbage seedlings and they seem to be being eaten. I thought it might be slugs and put traps out, but they are still diminishing, I’ve noticed small white fluffy?? insects on the back that fly off if I disturb them.

Our response:
The white fluffy insects are most likely what people call ‘fluffy bums’ and they’re the juvenile version of the passionvine hopper. We recommend using Neem Oil applied in the evening 3 times and each application 3 days apart. Alternatively there’s a product called Aquaticus Glow which deals with sucking and chewing insects well.

But we don’t think this is what’s eating your cabbage seedlings. We think it’s probably slugs. If you want to be sure, wrap up one night and go out with a torch and see if it is. Slugs live in the soil, so they’re hard to see otherwise. Keep up the yeast traps and also try the upturned pot idea with newspaper scrunched up inside (make sure you tip it slightly so they can crawl inside by day). During the day dispose of the newspaper with the slugs and snails in it and put fresh out. If you do this regularly, you do eventually get rid of the population.

All the best:)