Common gooseberry sawfly (Latin name – Nematus ribesii) is the most common pest of
gooseberries. The larvae of the gooseberry sawfly strip the leaves of gooseberry and red & white currant bushes anytime between May and September.
stripped-branch-gooseberry
The pale green caterpillar-like larvae are about 2cm long, with black spots and black heads.
gooseberry-sawfly-caterpillar
The female gooseberry sawfly lay eggs on the underside of leaves low down in the centre of the bush, so the young larvae are not noticed until they have eaten their way to the edge of the bush. The affected plants have hardly any leaves left, become weak, and are not able to
produce a good crop of fruit in the following year.
leaves-eaten-gooseberry-sawfly
Control
It is important to inspect bushes regularly from mid-April, to look for the sawfly larvae. If they are seen pick them off by hand.
Suitable insecticides can be used on the young larvae. Always read the label and follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
Common gooseberry sawfly can appear any time during the summer, so keep an eye out!
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A fun online game from Weedol has just become available with the chance to win an iPad.
Kill the Weeds has been launched “to celebrate the unique capabilities of new Weedol Gun! Rootkill Plus.”
It’s good fun: all you need to do is blast the weeds! Have a go: http://www.lovethegarden.com/games/kill-the-weeds.php
Flea beetle can be a problem in the vegetable garden during May and June & the signs are there to see if you know what to look for. They attack members of the brassica family including radish. This photo shows the typical ’shot hole’ damage made by a flea beetle on a radish leaf.
shot-hole-flea-beetle
The young leaves can end up looking a bit tattered.
flea-beetle-damage
Seedlings may be wiped out by an attack of flea beetle, but usually the plants grow away from the problem if growing conditions are good. Seedlings are most vulnerable to flea-beetle when stressed, particularly by dry, poor seedbeds where crop growth is slow.
Flea beetles are tiny, usually shiny and black, and jump away when disturbed. The following picture shows a black dot on the top left of the cotyledon, which is a flea beetle & indicates how tiny flea beetles are:
FleaBeetle
Control of Flea Beetle
- Provide ideal growing conditions: Prepare the soil well and choose appropriate sowing times to encourage rapid and vigorous growth of young plants, so that they grow away from the flea beetle. Keep the seed bed moist as damage is always worse in hot dry weather.
- Grow a trap crop: A sacrificial row or two of radishes, which seem to be the flea beetle’s favourite, may help to protect other young brassicas from attack by diverting the beetle’s attention.
- Cover the crop: Horticultural fleece or Enviromesh will keep flea beetles off if put in place immediately after sowing.
- Tidy up: Clear the garden of all rubbish to reduce the number of overwintering sites. Weed control in and around the seedbed deprives larvae of food sources.
- Use sticky traps – white and yellow sticky traps placed every 15 to 30 feet of row will catch the beetles. Encircling the plot with continuous sticky tape is also used.
- Chemical control – chemicals are sold in garden centers for flea beetle control. Always read the label.
- Biological control – Microcotonus vittage Muesebeck, a native braconid wasp, kills the adult flea beetle and sterilizes the female flea beetle.
- Bob Flowerdew method – coat on side of a card with treacle & wave the card over the effected plants. The flea beetle will stick to the treacle as it jumps off the leaves!
- Cover the row immediately after sowing – with ultra-fine mesh netting (0.8mm mesh) or horticultural fleece. This will keep the flea beetle out.
It is worth taking a few simple control measures when the first sign of flea beetle is seen.
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slug&cabbage
Colin Myram exonerated gardeners of wrongdoing in their use of metaldehyde slug pellets, on Radio 4 Farming Today.
Gardeners’ use of metaldehyde slug pellets is not a concern because:
- gardens are not usually under-drained, so there is no drainage system taking water draining from gardens directly to aquifers
- gardeners tend to use slug pellets in the spring. The problem with metaldehyde in water is in the autumn
Metaldehyde is a selective pesticide used by gardeners to control slugs and snails. The slug pellets are usually blue coloured.
Some water companies have recently been finding traces of metaldehyde in the raw water they abstract from rivers or reservoirs and treat to produce drinking water. These traces are at levels above the European and UK standards set for drinking water. But the Health Protection Agency has confirmed that at the maximum level of metaldehyde detected in treated drinking water, the intake from drinking water would be well below the acceptable daily intake and therefore there would be no reason to expect adverse effects.
5inch-slug
A positive approach to slug control in the vegetable garden will involve several techniques, including metaldehyde slug pellets which are helpful in the spring when new plants are at risk from slugs.
Lynsey made the most of the fact that Ladybirds eat blackfly!
Lynsey has had an allotment for one year – and is passionate about growing vegetables.
Lynsey gives her plot great TLC & watches her plants grow. She observes the day to day changes closely – including the arrival and rapid multipication of blackfly on her broad beans.
ladybird-larva-&-blackfly
Next she noticed that the ladybird larvae were eating the blackfly.
LadybirdLarva&Blackfly
So Lynsey cherished the ladybird pupae, and carried any ladybirds she found to her broad beans to help them eat, & so control, the blackfly.
LadybirdPupa
Thank you Lynsey for sending us these fascinating photos showing the ladybird eating blackfly and for allowing us to share them.
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The deer have been eating the exposed green leaves whilst the snow was on the ground and they have done considerable damage in the vegetable garden.
sprout-leaves-eaten-by-deer
The deer have eaten the Brussels sprout leaves and some tops.
deer-damaged-sprouts
It is the Brussels sprout plants at the end of the rows which have suffered.
deer-eat-sprout-row
The cabbage had a better covering of snow, but a couple must have been sticking out far enough to be tempting!
cabbage-eaten-by-deer
The cabbages are now covered with a net just in case!
cabbage-in-snow
It is nice to see the deer, and so far we can afford to share some greens with them.
deer-full-of-garden
Do you know of anyone else suffering damage from deer in the vegetable garden?
Slugs belong to the phylum of molluscs, in the class Gastropoda, which are soft-bodied invertebrate animals.
6-inch-slug
Slugs are related to snails, but do not have a shell. All slugs have a protective coat of slime and a distinctive head with protruding tentacles, which have eyes at the end. The tentacles are used to smell and locate food.
slug-on-cabbage
slug-damaged-lettuce
slugged-damaged-strawberry
Slugs eat plants so they are a great pest in the vegetable garden; some species are carnivorous and eat other slugs, snails, and earthworms.
slug
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Sharing the glut of runner beans with neighbours is fun, but finding a Roe deer in the Runner Bean Row was a bit of a shock!
deer-&-bean-leaf
Deer-in-Bean-Row
Deer-in-Runner-Beans
Deer-standing
roe-deer-eating-beans
Click on the image to enlarge the deer in the Runner Bean Row!
The Grey Field Slug-
- is the most active surface slug
- prefers green material
- is 3.5 – 5cm long
- moves 4 – 5 meters per night
- is active from 0.8 to 20 degrees C
slime-trail
The grey field slug is a serious pest in the vegetable garden.
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5 tips for combating slugs in the garden:
Monitor – check for slugs in the garden every day
shiny-slug
Cultivate – aggressive cultivation, like digging or rotovating the garden soil, kills slugs & blocks their movements
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Prepare good seedbed - a fine, well consolidated seedbed is not a good home for slugs
firm-soil-down
Sow seeds deeper – sowing at 4cm rather than 2 or 3cm makes it harder for slugs to attack germinating vegetable plants
black-slug-on-cabbage
Put out slug traps to catch the slugs & pick them off when seen
cabbage&slug-trap
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