Pest problems, anyone?

MookieSnuffles

Hi all!
I just wondered if any other greeny-fingered people have experienced severe pest problems this year? I have encountered general problems before but never as bad as this!
So far this year I have encountered Slugs, Snails, Cats, Mice, Thrips, Birds, Red Spider Mite, Green and Black Aphids and today I have discovered the Lilly Beetle! (I have no lillies left, by the way!)

All my year's growing has gone down the pan, all I have left are my Chilli plants (which are now indoors!:rotfl: ) and my Blueberry bush (which nothing seems to want to eat). No toms, no spuds, no squash, no melons, no strawberries, no cucumber, no salad veggies, no peas! I have more barriers in my garden than Alcatraz and still, for this year, I have to admit I've taken a bit of a beating.

I just wondered if anyone else has suffered severe dissapointment too? And what measures you have taken to prevent it happening again? Any input appreciated as I am genuinely interested!

Mel x

Ooo while I'm on the subject, RHS are still asking for people about Lilly Beetles so if you've had a problem you can fill in a form found at their website. http://www.rhs.org.uk/ x

vicki98_2

I started to grow veggies in pots on my patio, no problems so far and everything has been growing well (peas, carrots, lettuce leaves, runner beans, tomatoes, sugar snaps, strawberries, spring onions, chillies, peppers etc etc - its very crowded!). I have been out there today to check on their growth after a massive down pour this afternoon and was horrified at the number of slugs I have out there tonight.
There seemed to be one in every pot except for the chillies and tomatoes. I'm just having a google round for some organic repellents, trying broken eggshells first. Hopefully I can save my plants!

scaredwitless32

Our cabbages, sprouts and chard have been obliterated this year, my OH is going to pull everything up tomorrow and compost it. THe only thing we have grown well this year is spuds, broad beans , turnips swede ( are doing well so far) and beet

Hardup_Hester

My sprout plants have been decimated by Cabbage White Butterflies & my nastershams (sp) by blackfly. I've had a good crop of sugar snap peas, french beans & salad leaves.

Sunnyday

My sprouts and broccolli are being attacked daily by cabbage whites too.

I`ve spent many many hours getting the eggs off and squishing them and it`s a job that i hate.

Next year i will be getting some wood to make a cheap moveable frame to cover them and throwing mosquito netting over them.

The slugs and snails have had a go too but at the moment i have surviving plants due to spraying with garlic solution.
SD

Jack's_mummy

The snails aren't as bad as last year thank goodness but I have had a lot of red spider mite and a couple of doses of greenfly (which I saw off with soapy water spraying)

~Chameleon~

Yes!!!!

In fact I was thinking of starting a post about this myself today as I'm starting to feel totally demoralised with it all :wall:

Just about the only thing I don't appear to have had problems with are slugs and snails! :rolleyes:

My latest casualty are my peppers which appear to have developed blossom end rot. I've already lost most of my Roma tomatoes to that.

My brassicas are infested with whitefly, and I'm picking off caterpillars and eggs daily! I did have an enviro-net on them but ended up taking it off as the butterflys still managed to get inside somehow :mad:

I've been plagued with just about every species of aphid that exists! And some of my potatoes caught early blight. Onions, garlic and now leeks have got rust, and so have my rhubarb and hollyhocks, and my early mangetout also caught it!

My cucumbers caught some sort of fungal disease but <touch wood> appear to be recovering. The only things that appear to be pest/disease free so far are courgettes, pumpkins, carrots and rainbow chard! :rolleyes:

elsien

I'm not wanting to tempt fate, but I seem to be doing ok at the moment. I had lily beetle last year, but my lilies have survived and flowered well this year.
Garlic small but pest free, as were the potatos and sugar snap peas. My courgette leaves have got some sort of powdery mildew again this year - it doesn't seem to affecting the courgettes themselves, but I don't know what I can use to spray them with that's organic to get rid of it.
Generally speaking I try to only grow things that are relatively slug proof anyway, as all the neighbourhood slugs seem to end up partying in my garden, and it's just not worth the effort otherwise. I only have a small garden, so can't grow half the things I'd like to anyway.
Touch wood I've got off lightly so far.

olly300

My main problem is squirrels who dig everything up or bit the heads of everything. I lost virtually all my tulips to the damn creatures biting the heads off. I also have to deal with the occasional fox, slugs and snails.

This year has not been bad for aphids and white fly because I have lots of marigolds, poppies and cornflowers in the garden which seems to have attracted the right insects.


I water plants with a mixture of garlic solution, place chilli powder and slug pellets on the soil, and plant bulbs under chicken wire to deal with the squirrels. This has a side affect of meaning I don't suffer from slugs and snails, and the occasional fox has taken to leave my garden alone.

I have also taken to not putting my plants outside until they are reasonable sized and I try to select bitter tasting plants.

Squirrels don't like chilli, lavender, sage, marigolds and chives. They probably don't like my nasturtium flowers because of the hint of garlic.

katiel

We've had huge numbers of cabbage whites flying around this year, but I'm still trying to discover what they've done with their eggs. Any day now I guess I'll wake up to decimated brassicas.
Do you think squirrels eat courgettes?

olly300

katiel wrote: »

Do you think squirrels eat courgettes?

Probably not but it doesn't stop them trying to eat them anyway.

I know they don't really like apples or pears but they seem to like taking them of my neighbours' trees and attempting to bury them in my garden with a tiny nibble in them.

They actually prefer sunflower seeds and will eat the entire sunflower head then come back for more. So their stomachs are big enough to eat a whole courgette.