Pests, Diseases and Cures

Thanks Dave. I thought I would bite the bullet and cut all the spotty hallums. I harvested the bag without anything left and sure enough - a lovely crop of perfect new potatoes. We had them boiled and still slightly warm with mayonnaise. Bliss

Soil is clean Sheal. I think the black blobs are fungal grows -0ught to have done an autopsy but too late now! My guess is that something had a good nibble and then the rot set in.

Will wait until photo but have you been watering them in the sun?

Hi Ben, It looks like sooty mould to me, it's created by scale insects. You will need to use an insecticide to kill off the bugs.

MorningIt might be worth lifting the pot and putting a couple of bits of wood or similar so the pot isn't sealed onto the floor..... Definatley worth a try.... You can get pot feet to do the same but the wood will also work

Even overlooking the possibility of permanent long term harm to yourself and, possibly, your family, you stand a good chance of having the pants sued off you by your neighbour if it kills his plants. The courts would look very unfavourably upon a person that not only uses products they know...

I get them on my plants every year but they're easier to control physically when the weather is cooler. I'm not keen on spraying food plants, but in a really bad year, I treat with an insecticide once I've finished picking. It only takes one treatment and leaves the plants clean for the rest of...

What Doug says is correct and to the point. These plants have a second set of buds for just this occurence. You may well be lucky if you follow the above advice

Welcome to GC Kevin It won't be that long til those blooms die and are replaced by new ones, and then it will only be a memory . You are not alone, we all learn by our mistakes, and sure as apples are in cider, just when you think you are getting along swimmingly, mother nature will throw...

Why not use tea bags instead?

It's officially died

Hi just asking if any of you have problems with mould on the leaves of cornflowers, I have had this two years running now, is there any way of stopping it, I will post pic up when I charged battery up on camera..... Carl

I have clay soil, which is on the acidic side

Had a google and found the following I like the look of this - a bit pricey once you add delivery - best thing though it doesn't poison/kill them - I can still keep up my "hide and seek" vigil - but I won't get it yet until Unwins have Hostas on sale and they can share the delivery costs...

Thanks Kristen

I bought Nemaslug this year after a pretty disastrous time last year, and so far it seems to be working. There is still some damage but considering how wet it has been so far, I've been pleased with the results. Suppose the recipes for making slug soup work on the same principle of biological...

just had a quick look in the garden and found slugs eating the flower petals :-/ so the little poos must be slug poo. removed the slugs that were on the flowers, and found about 5 more on a trek towards them, ignoring the lupins and everything else that slugs are supposed to like.

No no no haha steam is the best cleaner steriliser you can get

Glad to hear there is an improvement! If it is that hard to get a fork into it though, I would seriously consider getting it hollow-tined properly before the hard soil really starts to impact the lawn.

Purely by chance,some bark shavings from a closely growing silver birch have fallen on the patch where my peas are struggling and have noticed the slug trails avoiding them.So have stripped some more off the tree and wrapped them around the base of the pea plant and whaddya know no more...