Today I will mostly be growing

Here I will be listing the pests and diseases and weeds that I was most unfortunate to have whilst tending to my vegetable plot this year. I have offered some solutions to the problems with information courtesy of the RHS website and from gardening forums like GYO - Grapevine, BBC Gardening and Vegetable Gardens forum.

Pests and Diseases

• Slugs and Snails
• Cabbage - White Rust/Blister
• Peas - Powdery Mildew
• Cabbage Caterpillars
• Cabbage Whitefly

Plot Weeds

• Chickweed
• Creeping Wood Sorell
• Couch Grass
• Nettles

Pests and Diseases

Cabbage - White Rust/Blister

What is it? - White powdery patches on cabbage leaves usually on the edges. This can be spread by overcrowding and damp periods.

Month Occurred: June/July.

Solution: According to RHS remove and dispose of infected material in my case the leaves, do not compost. My cabbages only have the heads left on them now, I have had to remove nearly every leaf as the white rust had spread eveywhere in the wet conditions.

Illustration:

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Peas - Powdery Mildew

What is it? - A blotching of white patches on leaves.

Month Occurred: July.

Solution: According to the RHS make sure you apply mulch and water the roots to prevent drying out. Prune out infected areas.

Are the Peas alright to eat? Yes.

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Slugs and Snails

What is Slug Damage? Slug damage can be identified by slime trails or leaves being munched or plants completely being destroyed.

Vegetables destroyed: Lettuces, cabbage leaves, potato plants, spinach, leaf beat.

Vegetables slugs left alone: Carrots, onions, kale, runner beans, peas, spinach, broad beans, parsnip.

Month Occurred: May, June, July so far.

Solution: Firstly check your plants closely to find slugs and snails and hand pick them off. Its best to destroy them as opposed to putting them in your neighbours garden as they do come back!

Organic Solutions include:

• beer traps,
• putting down egg shells or gravel around plants,
• garlic powder around the plot,
• using Nemotodes at the very beginning of the slug season,
• used coffee grounds seem to be a good solution as stated on Gardeners World,
• copper tape around the plot,
• vermiculite around the edge of the soil,
• build a pond and encourage frogs and toads as they eat slugs,
• make a hedgehog shelter to try and encourage them into your garden, they like to eat slugs,
• put protective cloches over young seedlings to prevent attack.

Click here for some informative facts about slugs in your garden.

Non-Organic methods: slug pellets - please take care if using these as they can be harmful to other wildlife and pets. In my opinion they shouldn’t be used around vegetable crops as the chemicals in the pellets could get into the soil.

Pictures:

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Cabbage Caterpillars

What is it? Tiny green caterpillars on the underside of cabbage leaves, they leave holes in your crops leaves. The caterpillars are from the the small cabbage white butterfly.

Vegetables destroyed: Only leaves - Cabbages, Turnips.

Month Occurred: October

Solution: Check the underside of the leaves, shake the leaves of the cabbages and the caterpillars will fall onto your soil so you can pick them up and dispose of them.

Organic solutions: Netting and if you already have netting like me be careful not to let any cabbage white butterflies into the netting so they become trapped.

Click here for a picture of the caterpillars.

Damage Picture:

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Whitefly

What is it? Very tiny white flies (look like tiny moths) that flly about and live on your crops. They lay their eggs on the underside of the leaf and bury into the leaf making it mishapen and distorted.

Vegetables destroyed: Only leaves - Cabbages, Chicory, Carrots, Pak Choi, winter lettuce.

Month Occurred: October.

Solution: A mixture of vegetable oil, washing up liquid and water is supposed to kill off whitefly. I have tried a few skirts of washing up liquid in a 7 litre watering can and one application a week seemed to reduce the whitefly problem. There is also an insectidal soap in a spray bottle in shops you can buy. For more organic solutions please click this link to a BBC Gardening Message Board thread.

Picture of Whitefly Damage on Leaves

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Weeds

Chickweed or Stellaria media- the most common garden weed worldwide.

What is it? An annual weed which forms a dense matting smoothering other plants. It also hosts other pests such as whitefly and red spider mite.
It matures and produces seed in 5-6 weeks and has lots of germination periods in one year. It has small white star shaped flowers which occur all year round.
Month Occurred: April until present (Sept)
Solution: Hand pull or hoe but trace the stems to the roots and pull the growing point out. Dispose of weed in case seed heads are present. Regular weeding will help prevent seasonal germination.
Illustration:

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Creeping Wood Sorell or Oxalis corniculata atropurpurea

What is it? This perennial creeping plant has clover shaped trifold leaves. It is regarded as a weed of gardens, agricultural fields and lawns. It is an invasive and self-seeding weed.
Month Occurred: May to October
Solution: It is easy to remove by hand and remove the runners as well.
Illustration:

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Couch Grass

What is it? A grass perennial with creeping underground stems. It is very invasive and will regrow from any small part of the rhizome.
Month Occurred: May to October.
Solution: Cover area in black plastic which will suppress the grass. Repetedly removing by hand will eventually remove most of the grass, when removing dig out as much as possible and do not use a fork as it will chop the underground rhizome. Never compost this weed.
It is said that if tomatoes or turnips are planted nearby this will inhibit the growth of couch grass by a chemical given off by their rooting system.
Illustration:

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Stinging Nettles

What is it? A perenial weed which can grow to 1.2m in height. It has tiny stiff hairs on the leaves which has a cocktail of formic acid and histamine which causes a painful rash if touched. The natural cure is the dock leaf. The grow in areas rich in organic matter and show that ground is fertile and not disturbed very often.
Month Occurred: May to October.
Solution: Dig them out using a trowel and wearing gloves. Remove all roots as well. Nettles can be put on the compost heap as they provide a nitrogen source to aid decomposition.
Illustration:

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