Watering | Weeding | Caring | Feeding

CARING

Karen's hot trade secrets to caring for your garden...

SAFE AND BIO-FRIENDLY REMEDIES FOR PLANT PESTS

The most common pest problems with both house plants and garden plants are:
1. Scale
2. Mealy Bugs
3. Aphids
4. Mites
5. Caterpillars

Symptoms of the first three are the presence of ants on the plant. Ants feed on the sweet sticky secretions the bugs make when they suck the sap of the plant. You will also notice a black sooty appearance on the leaves and stems. This is sooty mould.

CONTROLLING SCALE AND MEALY BUGS

Spray for Scale and Mealy Bugs using white oil. It kills by smothering so you must get a good coverage on the plant. Do not spray when the sun is too hot.

CONTROLLING APHIDS

To get rid of Aphids you can use Pyrethrum spray.

CONTROLLING MITES

For the control of mites, spray with wettable sulphur. You should pay particular attention to the under side of leaves. Mites are almost invisible to the naked eye. They cause a white speckled effect on the top surface of the leaves. After ten days you can repeat the spraying procedure. Again do not spray in high temperatures.

Wettable sulphur is also the remedy for Powdery Mildew. Powdery Mildew is a fungus disease that s common on Begonias, cucumbers, roses, and many ornamentals.

CONTROLLING CATERPILLARS

Caterpillars can be sprayed with a product called Dipel. Dipel is a bacteria which is fatal to Caterpillars, and completely harmless to other life forms.