Question from Annelise: Hats off to you, you are a genius! I live in Dallas and had been noticing a few chewed up coleus and other plants in my garden so I checked your book and the 1/2 grapefruit shell trap for snails has been the solution and then some!!! Really appreciate the organic tip. […]
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Pests – Page 5
5 Comments
Categories : Pests
Question from Rachel: About 4 months ago I took your advice and planted a lovely 5ft. tall Bearss lime tree in our backyard. As promised, it has been extraordinarily productive and we love it. A week ago I noticed that it was listing to the side, which puzzled me, but I eased it into a […]
Categories : Pests
Budworms on Geraniums and Mildew Resistant Zinnias
Posted by Pat Welsh
· Wednesday,
January
12th,
2011
at 12:17 AM
Question from Bob: Well, I picked off 175 budworms from 16 geraniums over 4 weeks, and then gave up – they didnt seem to abate at all. Only as this last generation completed their cycle and the weather turned colder, did my geraniums finally recover. Following advice on the web, I think that next year […]
Question from Robin: ANTS, the demons on all levels. I told my husband our property would implode if the ants left. They completely destroyed my strawberry bed the year before no matter what I tried. Moved the bed and again within two months they destroyed the strawberry plants. They LOVE the plants, not the berries. […]
Categories : Pests
From Bob: I went out again with my flashlight tonight at midnight and guess what – I caught a 5/8″ budworm *in flagrante*. Positive id, caught in the act, sucking on a bud. I put him in a jar, capped it and continued searching, but found none other. Then I decided to check my petunias, […]
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if indeed wasps or yellow jackets were controlling the budworms before they have time to hatch and bore into the flowers? This could be the case and is another good reason for being an organic gardener. In the absence of poisons, the balance of nature is free to take care of […]
Categories : Pests
Question from Bob: The sides of many of the flower buds have pin-head-sized smooth, round holes as if something is eating into them; the affected buds die without blooming, and the inside of the bud (cutting it opened) is either empty or whithered. Some of the leaves are littered with tiny black “grains” – under […]
Tree dahlia (Dahlia imperialis) with leaf miners
Posted by Pat Welsh
· Monday,
August
30th,
2010
at 07:42 PM
Question from Dee: Last spring I planted a small seedling given to me by a friend. Forgot the name of it but it is a dahlia that is pink and supposed to grow as tall as a tree. Mine has a bad case of leaf miner – nothing else around it has it. I fear […]
Question from Mari: Could you tell me how to control rolly polly bugs? They have been eating strawberries and young seedling. Answer from Pat: Sluggo Plus® kills sowbugs, but don’t use near places bees visit. Please read my blogs on bees! Thanks.
Categories : Pests
Question fromTeri: You recommend lining the bottom of raised bed veggie gardens with hardware cloth, but that degrades in a couple of years, and is a huge ordeal to replace. So I am wondering whether 6″ or more of 3/4 or 1″ rock in the bottom of the bed would work against burrowing creatures like […]
Categories : Pests
Pat Welsh Organic and Southern California Gardening
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Copyright © 2025 All Rights Reserved