Pests, Diseases and Cures

thanks for the replies. and yes, they are of reach of the terror!! the seeds sown are: Carrot-Parmex (container variety) Sunflower-Giants Wildlife attracting Sunflower-Total eclipse Lavatera Godetia Nigella Zinnia Cornflower Nemophilia InsigniaI know some can be sown...

I have some thing eating my rhubarb leaves never seen that before.

If you want to be organic I think you have to be prepared to eat the odd bug now and again.A bit of meat with the veg is a good idea,.... ever eaten blackberries for instance, usually full of maggots, I know when I used to make wine from them there was always a good amount floating on the...

Blighter reported!:thmb: Thanks for the heads up David and the link Marley:gnthb::gnthb:

Hi and wekcome to the Forum. It is very annoying and ugly is it not? Actually though apart from that it does little harm to the tree as long as it is healthy and growing well. Copper sulphate would have no effect on it in any case. The larva of the leaf miner is well protected by the skin of the...

Hi.I've looked 'lime' up in my dictionary ( should have done that first) and it jogged my memory of what he said. Yes, it's a lime tree.How lovely. We have lunch under it on sunny days.Regards.Y

Ahhh... Sprintails eh? - Many thanks guys, I feel much better knowing that they aren't going to eat me or my plants : ) yes, I probably am a horticultural hypocondriact.I doubt I'll kill they little things, as they don't sound like they do any harm to anything. But I may stick to sterilised...

Not one single slug or snail spotted on my little patch for several years. I believe all down to our resident pond / frog population....:gnthb:

No fasciation is caused by a virus usually fungul to put it human terms it is a proliferation of cells super annuated upon themselves like a benign tumour

Well I gave mine what started out as a light prune, then found a load dodgy looking wood so took it back quite shockingly hard-down to about 6 inches of stem, that was in around May ish of last year, it put on lots and lots of new growth but the length was only a couple of inches then winter...

Thanks for the info Walnut.In my case though, my plant shave never suffered other than cosmetically, with unsightly leaves. This year I am blessed in that having blitzed the garden last year I have almost a blank canvass for this year. The soil in my garden drains well, but as most herbs are...

same here i'm afraid...only potted late last summer, really is looking the worst for wear now...still holding out hope it will come back..

Russ, we get quite a lot of white worms in our worm bin compost and use the compost in our tunnel without any problems. If you are worried about acidity you can always add a little lime. If in doubt buy a soil test kit or little electronic tester.

Digger, sounds to me like woolly aphids. Whether mealy bugs or woolly aphids, you need to spray with a systemic insecticide.:gnthb:

And beech is probably one of the least durable hardwoods there is, so it catches everthing there is going I suppose, bearing in mind the heartwood is actually dead anyway.

Thanks everyone, I will have to look into it as I go along, but will probably start with the idea of using companion planting and trying to encourage predators.

Thanks for the suggestion, walnut. This latest week of frost seems to have done for the ******s so there are none left for me to photo. I did find one live pieris brassicae lava, now squished, but there was no possibility of misidentifying that, having distinctive markings.I may have been...

Shoot them or get a cat, or better still both

At last I have found the squirell's Dray. It is up about 50ft in an old beech tree at the side of the wood next to the house. They keep coming down every other day or so because it is so cold here just now -3 degrees at night. The young ones are still quite brave and wait till the last minute...

Thanks for your suggestions. I will try soapy water first as I'm not keen on sprays. Interestingly, I had a big problem with scale on my standard bay a few years ago. In a fit of desparation, I stripped off all the leaves. Amazingly, they grew back healthy and the tree is doing well now with now...