Pests, Diseases and Cures

Last year was the first time I'd seen significant aphid damage to Buddlejas, even to some B. davidii cultivars. It's been so bad so far this year (undercover), the aphids have even killed some immature plants. This seems to be nationwide problem, with people telling me about distorted foliage...

Ah well there goes another problem. There's a nice sycamore tree at the back of our house belonging to a neighbour, it's about 4 or 5m away and it's up against the fence. It's no problem, I like it even though half of it overhangs, it doesn't block much sun. They've put a nest box on the tree,...

Never heard of them. A bit impolite to bite when we haven't even been introduced! They don't look like flea bites . Had plenty of them when we had pets.

We used to get it in the front garden of a previous house - mature trees and a small, compacted 'lawn' etc. It usually disappeared of it's own accord through the main season. In borders, I'd agree - some regular mulching will help and will also improve the soil structure which in turn will help...

Flowers of sulphur is a good fungicide.

Thank you. Ah, I didn't realise they were prickly. Still, better than highly edible.

I tried the grit method on all my pots, not sure if it worked, but I didn't lose any plants.

In that case, maybe something called Photinia leaf spot. If the plants have been under stress due to the extremes of weather (hot dry summers and wet winters), this makes them more susceptible. If your plants have been healthy up until now, the weather over the last 2 or 3 years might well have...

Many thanks for that. Truth be told I think it is in a poor location in an inherited garden so I think you have hit the nail on the head. I will keep up with other posters' advice on mulch, watering and feed etc. to give it TLC and give it the chance to be the best it can be in the location it...

What are the conditions like? I know hornbeam can be happy with damper soil than beech, but even they can have too much of a good thing. Or maybe the soil has dried out in the past .., and the hornbeam was really struggling?

I wondered about that too @JWK - just because there looked like a definite 'head'. I've never seen one in the flesh though, and I don't even know if we get them round here, so I've no idea about timing. Mind you - I haven't seen any caterpillars yet. Probably still too early for them in my area.

I agree that squirrels can be dangerous. In the Lake District they have lots of sign on the roads telling the squirrels to go slower.

Take the flower bud off, cut back all dead wood to living wood, clear all competing plants or weeds from the area.Leave it for now and watch it closely for new growth, if it wants to survive it will, will it look good, probably not for a few years.

Juvenile beech trees also retain their leaves over winter.

I haven't had issues with voles but deer will create that sort of damage.What is the shrub please Mick?

Have never used any biological predators and take your point about their leaves being too hairy for the RSM.Looking at sites like Dibleys they do not show RSM as a pest on Streps, though there are Tarsonemid mites aka cyclamen mites which are very similar but again their eggs are clear like...

Thank you both. The presence of aphids confused me. I had a gap in my otherwise demanding job and I just used it to do the long due pruning, but I am learning that nature's schedule is more important than my schedule. Now I must apologise to the camelia

I'd agree with removing it. Issues with box plants are so widespread now it's just going to be a chore if to keep it.

Water soluble caterpillars? Great idea, I wish my slug population would take a leaf out of that book The thing sort of looks like a moth larvae. It's not hairy at all and is out and about quite late in the season.

Unfortunately we have lots of rats in the UK. Probably the result of our bad habits of throwing fast food away in places they can access. A lot of farms have 'farm cats' which are semi wild but encouraged by the farmers to hang around so they keep down vermin. The mothers teach the kittens how...