BackgroundConsidering the potential impact of climate change on the ecology of insect pests, different planting dates and cropping patterns were investigated as farm-level adaption to control insect pests of cabbage and improve productivity.MethodsThis is a 3 × 4 factorial experiment setup in randomized complete block design including three planting dates (early, normal and late) and four cropping patterns (control—sole cabbage or tomato, tomato intercrop, Piper emulsion and insecticide) with four replications each.ResultsCabbage infestation ranged from 1 to 29 and correlated negatively with planting dates or treatments, which differed (P < 0.001) significantly across planting dates, treatments and their interaction, with the highest during early planting. Diamondback moth larvae correlated negatively with planting dates or treatments, ranging from 0 to 13 that differed significantly (P < 0.001) across planting dates, treatments and their interaction. Looper larvae correlated negatively with treatments, ranging from 0 to 8 that differed significantly (P < 0.001) across planting dates, treatments and their interaction, with highest during normal planting and lowest during late planting. Webworm larvae correlated negatively with planting dates or treatments, ranging from 0 to 13 that differed significantly (P < 0.001) across planting dates, treatments and their interaction. The number of sprouted plants ranged from 0 to 6 and differed significantly (P < 0.001) across planting dates, treatments and their interaction, with the highest in early planting for control that differed significantly from late planting. Cabbage yield correlated positively with planting dates and ranged from 2.8 to 6.0 tons per hectare that differed significantly (P < 0.001) across planting dates, treatments and their interaction, with the highest during normal and late planting dates.ConclusionThe interaction of planting dates and Piper emulsion or intercropping treatments can be effectively used as control measure for insect pests of cabbage leading to greater yield, with late planting as viable farm-level adaptation to climate variability.