Free Pest control advice

Hello
I am pest control expert with full RSPH Level 2 Award in Pest Management.
I am happy to offer a free advice and help


JOhn

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner John.

 

Does your Level 2 qualify you to have the expertise to get rid of annoying husbands?

 

Not in the garden that regularly from what I can see but a local badger seems to have developed a taste for my beetroot crops and demolished one after the other last year. It was even picking samples along the way to check if they were big enough to bother eating before deciding it was time to make a full meal of them. I have some gooseberry on the fence line between the vegetable plot and the open fields outside the garden that I was hoping would help discourage visitors and there is a line of electric fence to keep out the bigger grazers but is there anything else I can do to keep my beetroot safe? Thinking I might just try spread them out over different areas so they might not all get noticed but any other suggestions would be much appreciated.

Happy gardening!

 

@Macraignil Interesting; my local badgers do sometimes dig up and chew my beetroot and then give up on them, they also try parsnip and don't seem to like the flavour or texture. However carrots are a different kettle of fish they love them; they'll take an entire row in a night. I'll go to bed thinking of carrots with dinner and next morning there will a line of carrot tops and no carrots, annoyingly they ignore baby carrots and wait until the roots are a good size. It has improved since I put in raised beds.
Some years I just haven't bothered with carrots. When they started taking low hanging apples and damaging the trees I looked into deterring them and it would have needed a pretty hefty electric fence.
They also love strawberries.

 

Hello and thank you for warm welcome

 

Hi John, if you could give me some advice it would be much appreciated. I moved into a new house last October and as this is our first spring here we have just noticed that our lawn and leylandii for trees are infested with sciarid flies. Swarms of them are all over the grass that and it’s impossible to sit out side in the evening. The lawn is 850m2 and it’s completely over run. Any advice would be very welcome!

 

@Steve Bloomer Are you sure they are sciarid flies (fungus gnats) as these are normally associated with damp compost rather than hanging around trees in swarms. More info on them here Fungus gnats (sciarid flies) / RHS Gardening

 

Hi Nigel, I’ve been told they are fungus gnats. I have attached a photo of one close up which I caught. Every thing I have read on them seem to be a few round plant pots of compost but this is full garden infestation. I’m not even sure if they are in the grass or leylandii or both!

 

How big are they, fungus gnats are tiny.
I'm just wondering if they are the kind of gnats you often see in a swarm and they seem seem to be going round in circles.

 

@Steve Bloomer that was why I asked about the id.
You could try Home | iSpot Nature for an id although the photo is not brilliant.
I'm inclined to go with Pete, fungus gnats are small, but proceed with a purpose rather than just hanging around.

 

They are about 3mm in size. They swarm all over the garden including the patio in late afternoon/ evening. Also swarming over the tarmac. There could be 10- 15 different swarms at any one time.

 

I get swarms of gnats and midge under my trees and sometimes elsewhere in the garden; in summer they are often joined by hoverflies.