COMPLETE GUIDE TO PESTS & DISEASES
Keep your crops safe from harmful diseases and troublesome pests with these simple tips
COMMON PLOT PESTS
Here’s how to combat attacks from the regular culprits
No matter where you live in the UK, each garden and allotment will play host to a wide range of wildlife species. While lots of creatures are hugely beneficial to growing your own, others will happily help themselves to your hard-earned harvests and even damage the plants, affecting their ability to develop future yields. The same goes for diseases: blights and infections can hinder a plant’s growth and affect a whole crop if left to spread. Take a look at this guide to the most common pests and diseases on the plot and discover some clever ways you can limit the damage without harming the environment.
SLUGS AND SNAILS
Probably the most well-documented pests in the garden, slugs and snails pose a slimy problem to growers up and down the country. They do, however, benefit hedgehogs and birds as a valuable food source, which is one of the many reasons why you shouldn’t treat slugs chemically.
What to look for: Irregular holes in leaves, stems, young shoots, tubers and flowers of a wide range of crops. Slugs feed all year round, whereas snails go into dormancy during winter. Most damage is in late spring on soft new shoots. Keel slugs feed on tubers below soil level. The Spanish slug – a relatively new discovery in the UK – breeds more rapidly than other species, is larger and tolerates drier spells.
Their battle plan: Feeding at night to avoid predators. Every mollusc bears both male and female reproductive organs so mating is simple. Eggs are laid in clusters of 30 at a time, taking only a week to hatch.
Their weakness: They require moisture and warmth to be fully active.
Control methods: You can dissuade them from your vegetable pots and beds with copper tape, set out beer traps or use any number of organic and eco-friendly treatments that get rid of the slugs, but don’t harm wildlife or pets. Use a biological control once the soil is warm and moist (this is most effective on slugs). Grow large transplants, remove slugs and snails by (gloved!) hand at night, and attract natural predators such as thrushes and frogs.
CATERPILLARS
These hungry critters are avid fans of any brassica within eating range. A visit from a butterfly can wreak havoc on your plants – unhatched eggs on the leaves can be a countdown to a devastating feast on your veg patch.
What to look for: The main veg pests are large and small cabbage whites (on brassicas), cabbage moths and leek moths (which also attack onions a
