Pests, Diseases and Cures

P of S - has your neighbour got a pond. I have no pond in my garden yet it is alive with frogs of all ages - because not only has my neighbour a pond, but the conditions are right for them in my gardenFrogs like shady places amongst foliage, where the slugs and other things they feed on lurk....

The black marks on your pear leaves could be either scab or pear leaf fleck. The treatment is the same. Spray according to the packet instructions with a fungicide. I use a copper sulphate based one, but there are others widely availabel.

Hello,can anyone help me with an organic cure for root rot- I am guessing its Phytophthora. It has killed of a few of my pelargoniums in the house this winter and although I cleaned up before sowing it now seems to be affecting my new seedlings that were germinated in the same location. I...

I'm not sure if the railway sleepers had anything to do with your problem - a friend of mine lost a number of plants and he put it down to the residual oil/tar products in okl sleepers!

35mm - that's as wide as a film! Transparency sounds like some sort of chrysalis. Found in the soil suggests leather jackets. Need a piccy, please!

Sounds more like chafer grub Capital Gardens: Chafer Grub Bio Control

Thanks Liz and Palustris for your replies.I went to check straight away and cut 2 stems and although they are very thin there is definitely no staining inside. I notice now some of the silver is turning black but the flowers are still beautiful - I will keep an eye on it and maybe treat it to...

Aw Waco says most of the flowers grown in this country are polinated or fed on by flying insects. I can't think of any that would actually act as deterant. I would suggest that you seek treatment for the phobia if you want to grow flowers - or indeed if you want to enjoy outside spaces....

My own experience with the nematodes is that although they are a bit pricy they normally work pretty well - you can have a conflict with the adult and juvenile slugs as I believe the nematodes tend to target the infants - so you may have to use them in conjunction with something else for the...

What happened to your piccies, steeev? If you need help posting pics try this link

This as the first year in a long time that my pansies have not been destroyed by aphids, maybe i've been lucky but this has been the coldest winter here for about 10 years and may have killed them off. Normally they have thrived in the mild winters and sucked the life out of the plants. Problem...

dendrobium, I'm grovelling. :D :D :D and Petes Agarve is "dead in the pot". :D :D :D

Thanks Pete,I drained the water away once they became moist, Mum has the same problem. She thinks they may have been overwatered for the journey :(

Hope Waco doesn't read my rant in the humour thread.! :eek: No beetle yet but I only have one stargazer to look out for.

The way it works is it has a advance party that sets up camp further along the stem or stems. Then one of them tips up and lays loads of white eggs, not unlike a spiders, and stays put while the rest march on. I thought it was some sort of spider a few years ago but no it is not. Before they tip...

Does anyone have any advice on how to control these creatures using organic methods? They are busy eating the leaves and copulating all over them. Please help!!

Thanks to you all for the information. Now I have a name, I have looked again and have found a good link regarding sooty mould. It is:http://plantclinic.cornell.edu/FactSheets/sooty/sootymold.htm

Thanks Rossco. They are both in pots so I will plant them and feed them. I hesitated about planting the 4yr old as it's quite big now and if it doesn't flower it would be a waste of effort, but you're probably right about the pots! The little one was left out the previous year and it did flower...

Provado Ultimate Bug Killer aerosol containing 0.025% imidacloprid and 0.05% methiocarb does for these within minutes. At this time of the year I patrol the garden in the early morning and can usually catch them "two at a time", which doesn't seem fair I know, but cest la vie. At least they pass...