Pests, Diseases and Cures

Thanks Hornbeam!

The cranefly larvae are the leather jackets that can infest lawns. Anyone care to ID the lovely flower in this photo?

Two reasons for plums going odd shaped. One is insect damage, so look for a tiny puncture wound. There should be a tiny plum stone inside the plum. If there is no stone in the fruit and they look a bit like bananas then it could(very doubtfully though) be Pocket plum which is a fungal infection....

Thanks for setting my mind at rest Jazid!

Have now identified this - its a mealy bug!

I left an apple core outside and the ants went mad for it, so... here's my cunning plan.. *thinks* - if I put lots of apple slices outside, the ants will eat it and forget about farming the blackfly on my parsley! Hey presto, the woodlice are eating the apples instead of the ants and I have...

I'll try that , thanks Pete

Wow! I've never seen that colour shield bug I don't think..only the green ones. Cool! :DThey looked like eggs with eyes on Saturday, sweet!

re q 1 - try this link - the American beech http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cdaid.org/urban/urbanforestry/images/Am_Beech_summer.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.cdaid.org/urban/urbanforestry/hub_american_beech.htm...

If it had turned out to be something exotic I wouldn't have minded so much, but I just Googled it a an image and it's the caterpillar of the small cabbage white butterfly - described as 'probably the most destructive larva of all'. You're telling me!

Lets hope your right, :D :D

:D

Shrubs and trees need a lot of water in their first year after planting. That may be the cause of the buds not opening and leaves shrivelling. You can trim of the brown leaves if you like and give as much water as you can. Then wait and see if they recover.

I've had an old tin bath (small) in the garden for a bit whilst I'm doing my DIY work. I thought it would attract wildlife, but like Andy I found it just went green and stinky and was populated with drowned snails!! I thought all the wildlife gardeners recommended it?

you beat me to it liz and Fmay has got them to, SNAILS and a few SLUGS :D

My sumach is still a mystery. It is now shootingly strongly from all except the first branch affected, which is shooting from very low down. Some weeks ago the border in which it grows suffered from weekiller spray blown from next door. Perhaps it was this? But still, why were the golden rod,...

I have only had BER on my beef tomatoes and I think it is because they need more water than the regular toms. I have got gardeners delight which give me a handful of lovely toms every other day and alicante, which are just starting to ripen. No BER on these varieties.I am growing in growbags...

I went on a torch-lit wander last night and caught a snail on the top leaf of one of my hostas!!!! it had climbed all the way up the pot, up the plant and up the stalk - leaving a huge hole in the middle of the highest leaf!!!!! Almost as if it was hell-bent on doing the most visible...

Hi Scarecrow,if it's any help, I'm new too and I had a poor cordyline which I'd stuck in a galvanised steel pot - with no drainage holes. I'm sure it all but drowned and the leaves drooped and peeled off. It went right back to just the upright stem and it looked all but dead. But I couldn't...

Thanks BM, Anything that hangs like a drunk is welcome to party with me 'n' Stella :D :D