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Let Nature Do it For You
Healthy plants will rest pests better that struggling, spindly specimens. Do feed your plants well and ensure that they get adequate water. Encourage birds into your garden to control pest populations, and not spraying alllows insect predators to get to work.
To Spray or not to Spray
To spray or not to spray is a big question when it comes to pests on your roses. When you spray you also eliminate the predators; ladybirds and the like. These predators take longer to restore their population than the fast breeding pests do, so the problem seems to worsen when we spray and becomes and endless cycle. Toughing it out can mean some ruined blooms or bushes thick with greenfly, but natural predators will take over if you let them.
If Nature Isn't Coping
If natural predators don't keep pests to an acceptable level then you need to intervene.
Slugs and snails can be controlled by night raids with a torch to remove them, beer traps. Slug bait is poisonous to birds and dangerous for children. Great news that slugs and snails dislike caffeine and our used coffee grounds used as a thick mulch (it has to be espresso) will discourage them. Plants in pots can be protected with a thick band of Vaseline applied right around the rim of the pot - impossible for slugs and snails to cross.
 Earwigs can eat great holes in your flowers overnight, an earwig trap (right) made from an upturned plant pot filled with scrunched up newspaper makes an ideal hiding place for these nocturnal pests - you can tip them into rubbish or leave the bodies on the bird table.
Aphids can be eliminated with Rhubarb spray. Boil 5 rhubarb leaves in a large pot of water for approximately 10 mins. When cooled add a squirt of dishwashing detergent to fix the spray to the leaves. Set to and spray. Note that rhubarb leaves contain oxalic acid and should not be eaten.
Aphids can also be squashed where they congregate on tender new growth and undersides of leaves.
Black fly can be removed with the tender new shots they love as you pinch back bean plants.
Spittlebug, hidden in a foamy 'spittle' like substance, can be removed with a strong jet of water from the hose, or even by hand.
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A Caffeine Fix for Slugs and Snails
 In one of the best pieces of gardening news in recent years scientists have discovered that slugs and snails detest caffeine.
Pouring the dregs of your morning coffee on the ground will drive them away. Even better, add coffee grounds to your mulch or potting mix. Ask your local coffee shop if you can recycle their leftovers and mulch your hostas, lettuce seedlings and more.
That morning cuppa will never be the same again! |
Aphids - the scourge of rose gardeners
Spittle bug- hose 'em off | |
