Yes you can rest happily with this organic treatment for your Aphids. It is called ‘spiders’ and they can be found in every garden and often in your own home.

Spiders

• There are over 100 families and nearly 50,000 known species of Spider.
• Spiders eat insects and not your plants although there is one vegetarian species of spider.
• Spiders typically catch their prey in a Spiders Web as depicted on the plant above

Spiders Webs in the Garden

• Orb webs are geometric in shape and often have gaps that any self respecting greenfly can get through.
• Tangle webs or cob webs are finer in structure and designed for smaller prey.
• Most spiders webs are more conspicuous when they hold dew drops or moisture.
• About half the potential prey that hit orb webs escape, so it isn’t a cure for Aphids after all.
• A web intercepts the prey, absorbs its momentum without breaking and traps the prey by entangling it or sticking to it.

Spiders are Good for Gardens

• Read more from Cornell University Dr Linda Rayor
• How to Increase the Number of Spiders in Your Garden

* Use mulch. It provides protection and humidity.
* Provide places for web attachment or homes eg. Crates, tall plants, bundles of hay.
* Leave areas uncultivated and leave plant stalks for overwintering habitats.
* Grow flowers that bring in prey.
* If spraying pesticides, spray when the spiders are less active or use a pesticide that has fewer effects on the spiders.

A spiders ‘evo devo’ and the silk they produce (that is Evolutionary Sevelopment to you and me) is hard science mixed with good writing. from amazon

Twice this week I have been asked why a plant has not flowered despite receiving apparently good treatment. Most plants use flowers to start the reproduction and pollination cycle but below are some of the main reasons for failure.

Reasons for None Flowering

1. Plants too young and immature, particularly trees and shrubs. Wisteria may take 6-7 years. Biennials grow one year and flower the next.
2. Frost damage to the buds on early fruit like Plums or to early shrubs Hydrangeas, Camellias etc. Bird, aphid or other damage to flowering shoots.
3. Planted too late in the season.
4. Poor cultivar or plant variety with low flowering habit. Some plants are vegetatively reproduced from poor flowering stock.
5. Poor and incorrect pruning that removes bud potential.

Read the rest of this entry »

All greenfly are Aphids but not all Aphids are greenfly.

What are Aphids

• Aphids are sap sucking insects,
• They damage  plants and introduce disease  makinge them enemies of farmers and gardeners alike.
• There are around 4,400 species and that many flies on some of my plants.
• The little black Aphids that trouble Broadbeans or Greenfly on Roses are from the Aphid family.
• Aphids are often specific to one plant species.
• Aphids breed several time in a season if left untreated.
• One female hatched in spring may produce billions of descendants from 40 generations in one year

Read Gardening Products Killing Aphids

Pest control including Aphids

Soil that is fit for purpose will help your plants grow, thrive and even excel.
Some plants need special soils or composts but good general principles are discussed below and this book will provide detailed information.

Purpose of Garden Soil

• Soil provides the base to anchor plants through their roots.
• Good soil holds moisture and air necessary for the health of plant roots.
• Soil feeds plants with nutrients (NPK) and makes other trace elements available.
• Soil recycles dead matter and hosts a variety of life forms.

Features of Good Soil

• Soil consists of “the living, the recently dead and the very dead.”
• Soil should be able to hold moisture but not become water logged.
• Excess water should drain away and not puddle under the plant. To prevent puddling the sub-soil, or lower layer of soil below cultivation depth, should be broken up and not compacted. Read the rest of this entry »

Old Parks Gardeners have known for many years that to replace a bed of Roses in the same place is asking for problems. New plants become sickly before they get a chance to become established and you can loose a lot of time and money trying to put new roses in the place of old.

How is Rose Sickness Caused

• No one seems certain why roses get sick if they are planted where old roses used to be. One possible cause is nematodes that the old roses have learnt to tolerate.
• I believe it is more likely to be fungal growth around the roots.
• Root exudates contain allelochemicals and when concentration becomes very high, after the roses have been in the soil for several years, they adversely effect new plants.
• Roses are gross feeders and soil which becomes impoverished will highlight other plant weaknesses.

Common Cures and Treatments for Rose Sickness

• If you are replanting roses exchange the soil with fresh soil that hasn’t grown roses before. An area 2′ square and deep will be needed so it might be easier to relocate the bed for new plants.
• It may help to grow and dig-in a crop of Tagettes or french marigolds if the soil is generally in good health. I would also add lots of manure and   humus for roses.
• Another method for small numbers of Roses is to sink an old carboard box filled with fresh soil and plant in that. By the time the cardboard degrades, the rose sickness should have gone or the Rose be strong enough to resist problems.
• The only product against rose sickness is Rootgrow, a beneficial mycorrhizae, fungus which adheres to the new Rose roots. It should allow the plant access to moisture and nutrients from a wider area of soil thereby increasing the early vigour.

Sometimes we don’t see the pest, but we definitely see their work.

What are the most common garden pests we are likely to encounter and how can we deal with them?

Slugs

Anyone who has sought to admire their garden, will have come across the devastation that slugs can do. From new shoots of delphiniums to prize hostas and lettuce leaves, slugs can leave a trail of devastation before you can say ‘where are those slug pellets…’
Fortunately, slug populations can be controlled through both the popular slug pellet and more environmentally friendly organic methods. See: Tips for dealing with slugs

Snails

There’s not too much difference between slugs and snails when it comes to pests in the garden. I remember my grandma going out in the morning with a plastic bag full of salt, she could easily fill a bag with snails almost every week. The methods for dealing with snails are similar to slugs.

Read the rest of this entry »

Cockoo spit is the white froth found on plants in early summer. It contains and protects the grub or nymph of the Common Froghopper .
They are called Froghoppers because from above they appear frog-like, and they are able to hop significant distances when disturbed.

Problems Caused by Cockoo Spit

• Froghoppers are a pest known particularly to fruit-growers. They feed on plant sap which they extract from the leaves and stems of plants.
• The grubs causes minor damage in itself, but the insects can carry viruses which can cause serious harm to crops.
• The eggs are laid on a variety of plants including tender young shoots of Willow, Cherry, Canterbury Bells, Primulas and Apple.
• Tender shoots and leaves can distort.
• In gardens they are frequently encountered on such plants as chrysanthemum, dahlia, fuchsia, lavender, rosemary and rose.

The immature light green grub can be seen in this froth on the back of this leaf which is now distorted and curling round the wound.

Treatments For Cockoo Spit

• Hose off the froth with water or soapy water and the grub will desiccate and die before it can lay its own eggs. Read the rest of this entry »

Yellow sickly leaves on acid loving plants is called ‘chlorosis’. It is a nutrition problem as the plant is inhibited from getting the nutrients from the soil. It is easiest to think of it as an Iron or acid deficiency.

Plants affected by Yellowing Leaves

• Rhododendrons often suffer if the soil is not sufficiently acidic as the picture shows. Eventually the leaves then the shrub dies.
• Chlorosis in fruit trees is a gradual yellowing of the tissue between the veins of younger leaves will occur while the veins themselves stay green.
• Azalea, Laurel, Maples, Oaks and other ericaceous plants can show symptoms of chlorosis.
• Tomato chlorosis crinivrus is a yellowing of leaves but is cause by a virus introduced by white fly. Control the insects and feed the plants.
• Yellowing leaves on houseplants can be due to overwatering. If your plant has been sitting in water it’s time to let it dry out.

Cures for Chlorosis

• Water with a liquid feed of ‘Sequestrene’ which is designed for such plants.
• Fertilizers that contain chelated iron, manganese and magnesium will help improve the colour and health of leaves and plants available from Thompson Morgan
• ‘Sequestrene’ Granular Iron Tonic is for acid-loving ericaceous plants. It provides iron in a chelated form which can easily be taken up in any soil.
• Foliar Sprays may be effective as a temporary measure, spray when the symptoms are first noticed with a ferrous sulphate solution.
• Peat, ericaceaous compost or applications of acid fertilizers, such as ammonium sulphate may help mild cases of iron chlorosis.
• Do not lime the soil.
• Treatment the soil directly with flowers of sulphur to lower the pH to 5.5

Buy Chempack for acid lovers

Phlox is a perfect perennial plant, perpetually pleasing people. It is easy to improve your Phlox performance.

Tips for getting good Phlox flowers.

• On mature clumps of Phlox thin out any  congested, woody stems.
• Thinning out improves subsequent flowers and increases air flow.
• After a good rain, mulch around your Phlox to conserve moisture.
• Phlox responds to the Chelsea chop – cut some of your Phlox back by a half at the end of May. You will then get lush growth and later flowers.
• I feed with a slow release fertilizer like Growmore in early spring.

Mildew Problems

• Phlox are prone to mildew but it won’t kill the plant – Phlox will come back next year.
• Water stress is a main cause of Pholx mildew so water the roots, avoid splashing the leaves and mulch as above.
• Lack of air circulation is another cause of mildew.
• In Autumn tidy up all fallen leaves.
• Mildew attacks young sappy growth so do not over fertilize with nitrogen.

Hungry Rabbits seem to eat virtually anything and I am not keen to satisfy their appetite. Not only that but they can cause other damage to plants and young trees. So in general I am disapproving of rabbits.

Symptoms of Rabbit Damage

• Rabbits feed on a wide range of vegetables and ornamental plants grazing them close to the ground. My Muscari bulb shoots provided a tasty spring snack.
• All they leave are short sprouts that may or may not grow back (to provide the rabbits with a second helping)
• Even rose shoots have been gnawed away on my neighbours prize shrubs.
• The bark of young trees is often gnawed to sharpen the teeth of the pesky rabbits.

Control of Rabbits

• Erect a Rabbit proof fence all around the garden of 1″ wire mesh. It needs to be 4 feet high and 12″ buried below ground to stop Colditz style break ins over or under.
• Use an animal repellent like Renadine or Wild Animal repellent
• Get a Jack Russel or other suitable dog.
• Move home

Some Rabbit Resistant Plants

• Alchemilla mollis or Aquilegia
• Bergenia or Foxglove
• Clematis or Euphorbia
• Dahlia and Peaony
• Primula and some Hemerocallis