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Pest control |
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Flea Beetle - holes on brassicas, salad leaves.
If you have noticed little holes appearing on salad leaves and brassicas, this is often caused by flea beetle (not fleas!) during the summer and autumn. Wherever possible try and cover these types of plants with micromesh fabric or a micromesh tunnel. Mulching around the plants will help to stop the flea beetle larva coming up from the ground when they are adults. You can also plant out some sacrificial rows of radishes around your plants which the flea beetles are likely to enjoy and hopefully will distract them from your other plants. If you have leaves with little holes in they are still fine to eat, just give them a bit of a wash first.
The Slug Trap! Place a glass full of beer near to your veg’ patch to trap slugs. They are attracted by the smell of the beer, climb into the glass and drown- slightly gruesome but it works!
Slug catching. Slugs are most likely to come out in the early morning and late evening. At these times, you can mount a patrol around your emerging veggies and catch the sneaky slugs, one by one. Although time consuming, it is worth the effort.
Carrot Fly. Plant your carrots higher than 60cm above the ground and the carrot fly won’t be able to reach them as they can't fly very high. Ingenious!
Black fly. These unpleasant creatures land on the leaves of your plants and simply suck the life out of them. There are a lot of pesticides on the market that can help but we prefer a more organic solution. Spray a mixture of water and washing up liquid straight onto the leaves and the fly should fall off.
Birds. A good, fashioned scarecrow can be an effective solution to naughty birds who want to steal your fruit and vegetables. In this age of MP3 players, we like to string a few old CDs onto our scarecrow- the shiny side blowing in the breeze is particularly terrifying to birds, it would seem.
Netting is a very good ‘solve all’ solution as it provides a protective layer against many predators. Netting is also good if you live in and urban area and suffer from nightly visits by foxes/ badgers/ neighbours cats.
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