How do I deal with box tree caterpillar?
Telling caterpillar damage from box blight, the monitoring and treatment cycle that keeps box alive, and the point at which replacing the plant is the sensible answer.
intermediate1 hr3 min read
Pests & Problems
Diagnosing what's eating, wilting or spotting your plants.
102 guides in Garden
Is this leaf spot a disease or just damage?
The edge of the spot tells you what made it — round with a firm margin, angular and stopped by the veins, or fading out with no margin at all.
intermediate18 min5 min readWhy did my plant suddenly collapse and die?
A plant that was fine last week and flat this week has had its plumbing cut — the short list of things that do that, checked from the ground up.
intermediate20 min5 min readWhy do my apples have a hole and a maggot inside?
Telling codling moth from apple sawfly by the damage they leave, and the traps, hygiene and timing that reduce the population without spraying a tree in flower.
beginner45 min5 min readHow do I prevent tomato and potato blight?
Recognising blight early, the conditions that trigger it, and the growing choices that avoid it entirely.
intermediate30 min2 min readWhy has the base of my plant's stem gone black and soft?
Basal rot explained through the arrangement that causes it — planting depth, mulch against the stem, water pooling and a strimmer wound.
intermediate20 min5 min readWhy is my box hedge going brown?
Separating box blight, box tree caterpillar, winter bronzing and drought, since three of the four look similar and need entirely different responses.
intermediate30 min3 min readWhy is my plant's new growth twisted and distorted?
Distortion is caused at the growing point, days before you see it — separating aphids, capsid bug, mite, weedkiller, virus and cold from one another.
intermediate18 min4 min readWhat can I safely spray on plants I am going to eat?
How to read a garden pesticide label for edible crops, what homemade soap sprays actually do, and why the non-chemical answer is usually also the more effective one.
beginner15 min5 min readWhy has my conifer hedge gone brown in patches?
Six causes of brown patches in a leylandii or cypress hedge, how to tell them apart, and the uncomfortable fact that most of them cannot be reversed.
intermediate40 min4 min readWhy has my plant stopped growing?
A plant that is alive but static is nearly always short of root room, root health, light or warmth — checked in that order, cheapest first.
beginner20 min5 min readDid weedkiller damage my plants, and will they recover?
The three routes weedkiller reaches a plant it was never aimed at, how to recognise each pattern, and the honest timescale for recovery.
intermediate20 min5 min readHow do I get rid of whitefly and red spider mite in a greenhouse?
Telling the two apart, why the conditions that suit each are opposite, and the biological controls that actually work under glass.
intermediate45 min4 min readIs this powdery mildew or downy mildew?
Two problems with similar names that need opposite conditions and opposite responses — which surface each grows on, and why one is far harder to stop.
intermediate18 min4 min readShould I cut off damaged or diseased leaves?
When removing a damaged leaf helps the plant, when it costs the plant more than the damage did, and how to trim one without making it worse.
beginner10 min4 min readWhy are my plums and apples going brown and furry on the tree?
The rot that spreads by touch through a cluster and overwinters in the mummified fruit left hanging — and why removing those mummies is the whole of the control.
beginner40 min4 min readWhy are my strawberries going mouldy before I can pick them?
Grey mould thrives on contact, damp and still air — so the fixes are all physical: get the fruit off the soil, get air through the plants, and never water over the top.
beginner30 min5 min readAre these insects on my plant pests, or are they eating the pests?
Identifying the predator larvae that get squashed by mistake, and why spraying a plant that already has them usually makes the infestation worse.
beginner15 min4 min readHow do I use biological controls in a greenhouse?
Which predator or parasite goes against which greenhouse pest, the temperature and timing each one needs, and the single rule that decides whether the release works.
intermediate30 min4 min readHow do I get rid of moles in my lawn?
Why molehills appear in flushes, which deterrents genuinely do nothing, and the realistic options for a lawn.
intermediate1 hr3 min readHow do I stop birds and cats damaging my garden?
Physical barriers and deterrents that work, applied humanely, plus the ones that reliably do nothing.
beginner45 min2 min readHow do I stop birds eating my cherries?
Why cherries are the hardest fruit to protect, the netting that works without trapping birds, and the tree size and form decisions that make protection possible at all.
intermediate1 hr 30 min5 min readWhy are my leaves mottled yellow and green?
Whether the mottle respects the veins, repeats identically and relates to anything at all — the test that separates virus from nutrients, variegation and scorch.
intermediate18 min4 min readWhy do my apples have black scabby patches?
The fungal disease behind cracked, corky black patches on apples and olive blotches on the leaves, why wet springs make it bad, and the leaf clearance that breaks its cycle.
beginner30 min3 min read