Been on a killing spree....

[Cozzer]

"Can you check my cauliflowers, please?" said head office, as she spotted me wandering round the garden yesterday.
"We" have a VegTrug, a fancy-ar5ed, expensive way of having a raised bed. Let's just say that it wasn't me who bought it....
I don't grow veg. I'm too busy to bother, but my better half decided to have a crack at it at the beginning of covid.
Anyway, I did as ordered, and discovered some caterpillar trees instead.
They had been cauliflowers, but no more.
I don't know how many beasts there were - scores of the bloody things, and tiny black eggs by the hundreds.
Sprayed 'em with something that was meant to wipe everything with more than 3 legs, and picked off/binned dozens before I got bored. I was like Rambo.
This morning? One plant in particular was now virtually skeletal. They're voracious little beasties, aren't they?!
Almost fascinating to watch....I followed the progress of one 'pillar as it moved along the edge of one leaf, and was amazed to see the speed of his/her feeding frenzy. 2/3 seconds, serrated leaf, move on to the next bit.

Pulled 'em all out and binned the lot.

 

[Kittyhawk]

"Can you check my cauliflowers, please?" said head office, as she spotted me wandering round the garden yesterday.
"We" have a VegTrug, a fancy-ar5ed, expensive way of having a raised bed. Let's just say that it wasn't me who bought it....
I don't grow veg. I'm too busy to bother, but my better half decided to have a crack at it at the beginning of covid.
Anyway, I did as ordered, and discovered some caterpillar trees instead.
They had been cauliflowers, but no more.
I don't know how many beasts there were - scores of the bloody things, and tiny black eggs by the hundreds.
Sprayed 'em with something that was meant to wipe everything with more than 3 legs, and picked off/binned dozens before I got bored. I was like Rambo.
This morning? One plant in particular was now virtually skeletal. They're voracious little beasties, aren't they?!
Almost fascinating to watch....I followed the progress of one 'pillar as it moved along the edge of one leaf, and was amazed to see the speed of his/her feeding frenzy. 2/3 seconds, serrated leaf, move on to the next bit.

Pulled 'em all out and binned the lot.

That has been my experience with my limited gardening endeavours.
The stuff you buy in the supermarkets isn't all chewed up like that so it makes you worry a bit about what potent chemicals commercial growers are using on their crops.

 

[TheUnicorn]

I wouldn't be spraying anything that I'm going to eat.

I put together a veg trug for my neighbour not long ago, big and clumsy IMHO and I thought the plastic feet that seem purpose built to channel in water and keep the wood wet were an interesting design choice.

 

[Tris]

Two ways to grow brassicas, covered with very fine insect mesh, or a weekly dose of something concocted by Porton Down

 

[Lorenzl]

I was looking at my currents this week and virtually every leaf has gone except the ones with the black fly nests are in

 

[GLS]

have learned to cover everything with the approprate mesh and netting. If its not insects its birds.

 

[Auldfart2010]

I was looking at my currents this week and virtually every leaf has gone except the ones with the black fly nests are in

Those nests are probably tended by ants.

 

[stuart little]

Those nests are probably tended by ants.

If it's 'currents', then it would be AMPS, not ants!

 

[stuart little]

"Can you check my cauliflowers, please?" said head office, as she spotted me wandering round the garden yesterday.
"We" have a VegTrug, a fancy-ar5ed, expensive way of having a raised bed. Let's just say that it wasn't me who bought it....
I don't grow veg. I'm too busy to bother, but my better half decided to have a crack at it at the beginning of covid.
Anyway, I did as ordered, and discovered some caterpillar trees instead.
They had been cauliflowers, but no more.
I don't know how many beasts there were - scores of the bloody things, and tiny black eggs by the hundreds.
Sprayed 'em with something that was meant to wipe everything with more than 3 legs, and picked off/binned dozens before I got bored. I was like Rambo.
This morning? One plant in particular was now virtually skeletal. They're voracious little beasties, aren't they?!
Almost fascinating to watch....I followed the progress of one 'pillar as it moved along the edge of one leaf, and was amazed to see the speed of his/her feeding frenzy. 2/3 seconds, serrated leaf, move on to the next bit.

Pulled 'em all out and binned the lot.

That's why I can't grow brassicas. As fast as it goes in one end of a 'pillar it comes out t'other!

 

[Stigmorgan]

I'm currently battling aphids and ants, of the 300+ trees I've planted around school over covid (thanks to the woodland trusts free trees for schools programme) I have 20 wild cherry trees that are being decimated because ants have set up home at the base of each one and have been farming the aphids, every day I remove hundreds of the littlen 5h1t5 but as long as the ants are farming them its an ongoing battle but because its a school I'm very limited as to what I can use against them, if I can get rid of the ants I'll stand a chance against the aphids, plenty of predator insects that will eat them but the ants fight them off

 

[Tris]

Stig, try antstop granules, they can be dissolved in a can and watered straight into the nest. Done in the evening it'll be gone by morning

 

[Trainee neophyte]

I'm experimenting with diatomacious earth at the moment - allegedly it kills most insects but is utterly inert and non toxic (unless you breathe it in when applying it).

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work, but investigations continue...

 

[Lorenzl]

Those nests are probably tended by ants.

Correct @Auldfart2010 They used to decimate the cherry tree when we had one.

We also have a apple tree covered in Woolly aphids.

 

[Stigmorgan]

Correct @Auldfart2010 They used to decimate the cherry tree when we had one.

We also have a apple tree covered in Woolly aphids.

If you can remove the ants then you can battle aphids with predatory bugs like ladybirds

 

[SamG340]

Try planting marigolds with them . they help keep the pests away

 

[Cozzer]

Try planting marigolds with them . they help keep the pests away

Except slugs and snails love 'em!
We can't win!
Do you get the impression that someone, somewhere, is trying to tell us something?!


Anybody here tried using nematodes yet?

 

[Tris]

Correct @Auldfart2010 They used to decimate the cherry tree when we had one.

We also have a apple tree covered in Woolly aphids.

3 or 4 tablespoons of rapeseed oil in 500ml of water with a dash of washing up liquid, sprayed on the aphids (allegedly) helps. The (theory is) washing up liquid breaks down the woolly coating as well as keeping the oil in emulsion, then the oil blocks the spiracles, suffocating them. This is not an approved pesticide though

 

[MikeJhn]

Anybody here tried using nematodes yet?

Yes did not seem to make any difference, but isopropyl alcohol about 10:1in water did, they where happy as well. . Not recommended on veg's.

Love marigolds, the slugs and snails chomp on those and leave my veg in the greenhouse alone, but not as effective as going out at night with a flash light and picking them up and putting in a bowl of soapy water, they ignored the beer traps, my problem is mostly with earwigs.

 

[clogs]

washing up liquid in a spayer works well for most multi legged monsters....
we are quite suc growing cucumbers....they are grown up a heavy galv mesh bit like the stuff that goes in a conc floor) the rats have decided to eatem before us.....
guess the mesh is a "stairway to heavan".........
so much for 5 cats.....
we can only buy ant powder imported from the UK....they make a mess of our lemon trees...they eat the young leaf shoots....
we put a ring of the stuff around the trunk on the ground...works for me...

 

[Lorenzl]

Anybody here tried using nematodes yet?

I tried them one year without any noticeable results. It was a very dry year and the nematodes may have died.

Beer traps work but are not nice cleaning out, and the torch method works well if I remember to go out. The first time I did it I didn't wear gloves and it was a pain cleaning the slime off.

I read it is good to blast Woolly aphids off with a powerful water jet which I usually do as the apple tree is quite large.