Pests, Diseases and Cures

I think it is likely to be cabbage root fly. Discs won't help cause you are sowinmg seeds rather than planting young plants. I would sow them and then cover with fleece. You are then using a physical barrier to stop the insects flying in and laying. It also means you are not using any chemicals...

What?? You are having a hot spell?? You lucky thing We are simply having rain, rain, and rain Some of my own acers are drying up on the leaf edges We haven't been having a normal summer here, so one has to expect some signs of stress in these plants

Eeeee! You 'ull people are all the same. No taste. Slugs are far tastier than gherkins. But I wonder if other peeps have alcoholic visitors. Must try mine on G & T.The beer traps are now down for tonight. All invited.John [ 09. August 2007, 03:49 PM: Message edited by: Sarraceniac ]

Provado only lasts a few weeks so you may have been lucky and got the entire infestation. You are right about them walking so if you had susceptible plants in a greenhouse you could put them on the staging and paste something on the legs of the staging as a barrier - grease perhaps? I use...

That's not necessary. My lilies were devastated three years ago as I had not heard of lily beetle.Last year I gave them a spray with Provado when they were about a foot high and never saw another beetle all season. This year I did the same at the sight of the first beetle, very little...

I think you need to bite the bullet and get squishing. You can use a spray as I recommended before but lets face it, would you prefer a quick squishing or a long drawn out poisoning if it came to it? I tend to look every day, particularly under the leaves and because i haven't sprayed I squeeze...

As you can see lady i basically have no excuse at all, i hold my hand up to having a complete mental block on the jeep cleaning job, I simply can't bring myself to do it

There was a thread about this on this topic site on 8/7/07. Scroll down and have a peek

im a gardener ,theres a bloke at work who cant prune conifers as he comes up in a rash ,i think this is quite common!

Make money from your snails!!! I saw this little item when googling and in view of all the GC members that have so many snails, I thought this was a useful idea."I was happily eating my oats yesterday morning in front of the telly, when I almost choked. nothing wrong with my oats, nor with...

I read that last year, thanks! thought more people would be affected by this problem?

thanks Hyla, I'll move it as it is making good progress through my geranium! Not quite sure what I want it too eat instead though? Perhaps it will accidently find it self at the other side o the neighbours wall :D

I had a ceanothus that had die back this year too, I cut it out then later more died so I cut it right back and now it seems to be growing ok, mine was only 5ft high though and I used to trim it after flowering in the spring every year to keep the same height. So fingers crossed it might grow...

Thanks Celia for taking the trouble to reply. No other ideas have been forthcoming so I'll enquire elsewhere. Perhaps a tree surgeon. A great shame if it has to be cut down as it's the main feature in that part of the garden.It's surprising how these things creep up on you - I only really...

Thanks Celia & wiseoldowl, I'm glad it is alright, as you might have noticed I'm not a lover of gardening, I've hated it since I was a kid as I never got anything right now I've retired I have the time to potter around and try things out......

I planted 2 Actaea and 2 Filipendula in a border, the Actaea ended up with mildew and Filip with Vine Weevils - I was not a happy bunny! Anyway, I used the provado and removed any leaves, mulch etc. from around the base of the plant, seems to have done the trick. I like Geoff's idea of...

Hope this works because I haven't posted a photo before. I was out in my polytunnel this morning and came across this little darling... and I have seen bigger ones in there. I left it on the bird table after taking its pic next to a �£1 coin. That was 1/2 an hour ago and none of the...

Hi Paul,I had the same problem with my Hosta's and also my Echinacea, I found that the slug pellets worked well. If you get the green waxy ones they will be safe around pets too!Hope it helps."Its a dog diggidy dog not a ball and a chain" :D

Hi ismeval the black slug(arion ater)is probably the least damaging of all the slugs an omnivorous species, eating carrion and dung as well as vegetable matter. It prefers rotting vegetation to living plants and consequently rarely does much harm in the garden. Largely nocturnal, but large...

Yes good idea.I will get my camera out tomorrow hopefully.Thanks Pete