Pests, Diseases and Cures

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...

Mac, it's Dracaena Massangeana, possibly Lemon and Lime. There are a two causes with the same symptoms. Overwatering and underwatering can both cause leaves to turn yellow. At this time of year water less frequently letting it almost dry out before watering again. This Dracaena prefers a higher...

Hi Brian, Yes, that is part of it and because we tend to have a lot of dry weather there are that many slugs about. :thumb:

Wouldn't this be covered by the 'Pests, Diseases and Cures' section?

The bugs looked like slim brown woodlice and had chewed out the insides of the plant

Thanks David. Kind regards Janet

Is there any way to check if it's vine weevils?

Whitefly are a persistant pest and you should endeavour to get rid of them they can be plant specific (only affect one plant) but are sap suckers and leave deposits of honeydew which in turn can lead to sooty mould.You can use sprays containing Imidacloprid it's available as a concentrate...

Glad that worked, they are resourceful little things. Keep the traps going or get a cat (but not one like our last cat that brought mice indoors alive for our delight!)

:euw:

Superb advice David!