There is nothing more frustrating for a gardener than purchasing, growing and nurturing a plant for it to be destroyed by pests or disease. As gardeners we strive to protect our crops and this can be an enormous challenge especially when we have to try identify what has caused the damage. Even more frustrating, those shifty beasties are often hidden and not noticeable without a thorough search.
I have collated my top 5 tips to help you reduce the chance of infestation, and due to the overwhelming questions asked by our Facebook and Twitter followers, I will discuss the most common concerns which will hopefully solve your gardening concerns too.
Sometimes there is no right or single answer to getting rid of pest and diseases so these tips are intended to help reduce the risk of attack of any pest and disease in your garden;
- By covering your crops with fleece you will prevent pests from reaching your crops.
- Keep your eyes peeled for the earliest signs of attack and take action. Have a good look at your plants and if there is an infestation don’t let the problem get out of hand.
- Know your enemy. Certain pests and diseases are specific to a particular crop, so make sure you identify yourself with the most likely kind to attack your crops.
- By encouraging natural predators to your garden such as Ladybirds and Lacewings you will reduce pest and disease in your garden. They will happily munch their way through aphid colonies, preventing the spread around your garden.
- Be careful not to spread disease, many diseases can be prevented by practising good garden hygiene and keeping your garden well maintained.
Our facebookers and tweeters took to social media to ask their pesky queries; from slugs to mildew we had it all. It soon became clear that our gardeners need help with preventing and eliminating pests and diseases to save their garden.
Slugs and snails are probably the most common pests that will attack your crops, and by the time you notice their damage they are often long gone. No wonder gardeners resort to throwing them over fences – which is another discussion we had on Horticultural etiquette! So, how do you prevent snails and slugs from attacking your crop? You can use beer traps, or apply sharp scratchy mulch such as gravel to deter them. For a more targeted approach try using Nemaslug, which is completely safe around children, all animals, birds and wildlife – except for slugs and snails.
Ants can also be a nuisance although they don’t directly damage your plants. They often set up farms of sap sucking aphids, from which they gather sugary honeydew. You can try applications of ant deterrent around their nests and watch to see where they move to. If you keep applying it wherever they move, then sooner or later they will find somewhere to live which will be less of an inconvenience to you. It is also well worth encouraging insectivorous birds to your garden who will help to keep the ant population down.
Diseases such as Powdery Mildew and Downy Mildew affect a wide range of plants. Many plants are now bred with Mildew resistance to help combat the disease. Good air circulation and watering
For more information view our full pests and diseases guide.
Terri works in the e-commerce marketing department assisting the busy web team. Terri manages our blog and social media pages here at Thompson & Morgan and is dedicated to providing useful advice to our gardeners. Terri is new to gardening and keen to develop her horticultural knowledge.
Hi I bought a Cherry Sunburst tree 2 years ago ,for the second year running the end leaves are covered in a black mass (aphids)? What action do you suggest I take this year and going forward?look forward to your reply Joe.
Hi Joe, I will pass this to our horticultural expert and get back to you. Regards, Wendie
Hi Joe, I have spoken to our horticultural expert who has said:
This is cherry blackfly, a common problem on fruiting cherry trees.
Once the leaves have curled the damage is done and it is usually too late for effective spraying.
Lots of advice and info here:
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=488
Boils down to a winter tree wash applied in December and then a preventative spray in spring
Hope this is useful, wendie
Try Bayers slug and snail killer, excellent , have had no trouble with them this year. beans ,peas, flowers etc. untouched. Mix killer with crushed eggshells for even better results, great to see the hundreds of empty shells around the soil.
Bayer slugs and snail killer is excellent, my beans, peas,fruit, plants were untouched by them this year, great to see the garden covered with empty shell. but be vigil , you may have to apply more than once. I mix the slug killer with crushed eggshells.
I loved this post as I am having an awful problem with snails and slugs. They have now destroyed almost half the garden. I tries collecting them at 0400am 🙁 and feeding them to a hedgehog located about 150yrds from the house, but I am over run with them both. I am now getting so upset as they have destroyed shrubs and plants that I have had for over 10 years one night I picked 76 off of one hebe, the results are devastating. I am afraid I lost my rag one night when I found them in my fushia’s, miniture Rose, lupins and flox, over 176 snails and 154 slugs collected that night. I noticed a real changed, lush green foliage after only a couple of days as all plants and shrubs including foxglove, clemetis, pestemon etc started to recover, then bash, I lost nearly half the garden in one night, I started then to just hit them with salt and grinned as I watched them bubble.. I
I am not this sort person, I would go out of my way to help all our insects in the garden, but I just couldn’t deal with this. Did I mention I also had an infestation of a small fly too, head in hands I need help and sadly found comfort knowing I am not the only one 🙁
Hi Sarah. Thank you for your comment. We are sorry to hear that you are having such a hard time with slugs and snails in your garden. What forms of pest control have you used already? Kindest regards, Terri