During the summer season, bean plants may become unhealthy looking, with a mottled or stippled pattern of tiny whitish speckled spots, short streaks or short lines on the upper surface their leaves. These affected leaved may eventually turn yellow, then brown, and become dry and […]
Category: Pests, Diseases & Problems
Why You Should Never Mulch Pea Plants with Pea Straw!
Mulching the garden is great way to protect the soil and keep it healthy. A good layer of mulch around 5-10cm (2-4″) thick on top of the soil surface prevents evaporation of soil moisture, saving water, and also keeps plant roots cool in summer. It […]
Using Live Catch Traps for Humane Rat and Mouse Control
Live catch rat and mouse cage traps are humane, non-lethal devices that are used to capture pest rodent. They are designed to trap the animals without harming them, so that any non-pest native rodents that are captured can be relocated or released back into the […]
How to Control Wooly Aphids, the Fluffy White Pest on Apple Trees
Woolly aphids are sap-sucking pests that are bluish-black in colour that produce a covering of fluffy white wax that resembles wool. They can be found clustered around the bases of new shoots on branches, wounds on trunks and branches, and on exposed roots of apple […]
The Easiest Way to Get Rid of Fungus Gnats from Houseplants with a Bug Zapper
Fungus gnats (Bradysia spp.) are annoying tiny, delicate looking little flies are around 1.5 – 3.0mm (1⁄16 to 1⁄8”) often seen flying slowly around indoor plants. They look like and are often mistaken to be tiny ‘fruit flies’ when they land on the sides of pots […]
How to Control Two-Spotted Spider Mites Without Harmful Pesticides
Two-spotted spider mites or red spider mites (Tetranychus urticae) are tiny sap-sucking pests belonging to the Tetranychidae family that are barely visible to the naked eye, being only 0.3-0.5mm long, that live on the underside of leaves. Their body color varies, it can be pale […]
How to Control Whitefly Without Harmful Pesticides
Whiteflies are small white flying insects around 1mm long that prefer to hide on the undersides of young plant leaves, and when disturbed fly up in the air around the plant in a cloud of white flying insects, often in large numbers. They belong to […]
What Are Crane Flies and Are They Harmful?
Crane flies (Family Tipulidae) look like giant mosquitoes, being up to 3cm (1-1/4″) in length, with a long slender abdomen, very long thin legs, narrow wings, and long antennas with multiple segments per stalk. They can be brown, green or white in colour. They’re sometimes called […]
The Best Ways to Trap Rats and Mice That Really Work
Non-native, feral rodents, such as the Black Rat, aka Roof Rat (Rattus rattus), Brown Rat, aka Ship Rat or Norway Rat (Rattus norvegicus) and House Mouse (Mus musculus) are destructive pests that can cause considerable damage to a home and garden if they’re not controlled. […]
How To Tell If You Have Rats and Mice in Your Home or Garden
How do you know if you have rats or mice, or some other pest problem? Correct pest identification is important for deciding on an appropriate course of action. Visual identification is not easy because rats and mice are nocturnal, meaning they are most active at […]
Will Queensland Fruit Fly Traps Attract More Pests Into My Garden?
Despite the unfounded concerns of some gardeners, setting up Queensland fruit fly traps will not attract more of the harmful female pests into your garden. These traps do work effectively to reduce the numbers of the pest already there, and are best installed at the […]
What Is Overpotting and Why Is It Bad for Your Plants?
Overpotting is a term used to describe the negative effects on plant health when a plant is grown in a pot that is way too big for it. While it might seem like a good idea to give a plant plenty of future growing space, […]
Burr Knots, What Are the Root-Like Growths on Apple Tree Trunks and Branches?
Burr knots (burrs or burls) are masses of small root initials, plant cells that are dividing and transforming into root tips, which appears on the above-ground portion of a rootstock, or on the trunk and limbs of apple trees. This is an inherited disorder where […]
Why Are My Tomatoes Cracking and Splitting?
Fruit cracking is a common problem in tomatoes when there is a wide fluctuation in soil moisture levels, which leads to inconsistent water content within the plant. This is usually caused by huge temperature variations and/or inconsistent irrigation. The cracking or splitting of tomato fruit […]
How To Make Safe and Effective Rat and Mouse Baits Using Baking Soda
Introduced, non-native, feral rodents, such as the Black Rat (Rattus rattus), Brown Rat, aka Ship Rat or Norway Rat (Rattus norvegicus) and House Mouse (Mus musculus) are serious pests that need to be controlled. The danger with using commercial poison baits to control rats and […]
How to Make a Bottle Trap to Control European Wasps
The European wasp (Vespula germanica) is a social wasp that lives in large nest colonies. It’s native to Europe, North Africa and Asia, and has now spread throughout the world. In the US, these wasps are known as German yellowjackets. Why Are European Wasps Considered […]
Why Are My Tomatoes Not Ripening?
Tomatoes require a sufficiently long growing season and suitable temperatures in order to ripen their fruit, otherwise the fruit may stay green and fail to ripen. When growing conditions are less than ideal, there are ways for gardeners to turn things in their favour, to […]
Which Indoor Plants Are Sensitive to Fluoride in Tap Water?
Some houseplants are sensitive to the fluoride that is added to municipal tap water for the purpose of preventing tooth decay in humans. The symptom of fluoride toxicity in plants is leaf necrosis (yellowing, then browning, leading to dead, scorched areas on the leaf), which […]
How to Make a Queensland Fruit Fly Trap and Bait
One of the most damaging pests of fruit and vegetables in Australia is the Queensland fruit fly or Qfly (Bactrocera tryoni). To control this pest, you can make your own home made traps using empty clear plastic bottles, and also make the homemade bait lure […]
Why Are My Tomatoes Flowering But Not Setting Fruit?
It’s quite disappointing for gardeners when healthy and vigorous tomato plants,drop their flowers and fail to produce fruit after a good growing season. Tomato plants have what are described as complete flowers, they contain both the male and female parts within the same flower. The […]