Why are there ants all over my plant?
Ants on a plant are almost always a symptom rather than the problem — what they are farming, when the nest itself does damage, and how to break the relationship.
beginner15 min4 min read
Pests & Problems
Diagnosing what's eating, wilting or spotting your plants.
102 guides in Garden
Why do my baby pears turn black and drop off?
The pest that removes an entire pear crop in May every year, how to confirm it by cutting a fruitlet open, and the picking-off and soil cultivation that break its one-generation cycle.
beginner40 min4 min readWhy is my rose dying back from the tips?
Distinguishing simple stub dieback from canker and from a plant failing at the roots, and the cutting-back-to-clean-wood method that stops it spreading.
beginner30 min4 min readWhy is there white powdery mould on my gooseberries?
American gooseberry mildew turns from white felt to a brown felted skin on the fruit — and airflow, pruning and variety choice control it far better than anything sprayable.
beginner30 min3 min readWhat is canker on a tree or shrub, and can I cut it out?
Reading a canker — sunken bark, a callus roll, girdling — to judge whether the tree is containing it, and where a cut has to go if you make one.
advanced30 min4 min readWhy are there small maggots in my raspberries?
Raspberry beetle grubs, the dried-up patch at the stalk end that gives them away, and the soil cultivation and traps that reduce them without spraying an open flower.
beginner30 min3 min readWhy do my apples have brown spots under the skin?
Bitter pit is a calcium distribution disorder, not a disease — why watering, thinning and pruning restraint fix it and why adding calcium to the soil usually does not.
intermediate25 min4 min readWhy do my plants wilt in the afternoon and recover by evening?
How to tell temporary heat wilt, which needs nothing, from genuine drought, waterlogging and root damage — which look identical at three in the afternoon and need opposite responses.
beginner8 min4 min readWhy do plants grow badly in one part of my garden?
How to read a bad corner — light, wind, water, roots, buried ground and old contamination — and decide whether to fix the site or change the planting.
beginner25 min4 min readWhy has my evergreen gone brown on one side?
On an evergreen the position of the browning names the cause — wind on one flank, frost at the tips, salt low down on the road side.
beginner15 min5 min readWhy is my plum or cherry tree oozing gum from the bark?
Telling ordinary gummosis, which is a stress response, from bacterial canker, which kills branches — and the summer cutting and vigour that give a tree its best chance.
intermediate45 min4 min readWhich plant problems spread to my other plants?
A sorted list of what genuinely travels between plants and how, so you know which problems need isolating and which can be dealt with at leisure.
beginner15 min4 min readWhy did my lavender die over winter?
Why wet, not cold, kills most British lavender, how to tell winter rot from frost damage, and the planting and mulching changes that stop it happening again.
beginner20 min4 min readWhy have my leaves been stripped to the veins overnight?
Sawfly larvae, lily beetle grubs and viburnum beetle all strip a plant fast, they are all on the underside, and hand removal is what actually works.
beginner12 min4 min readCan a plant virus be cured, and what do I do with the plant?
Why there is no treatment for a plant virus at any level, how to tell a probable virus from the things that mimic it, and the decision that follows.
intermediate15 min4 min readWhat is wind rock and how do I stop it?
How repeated rocking opens a funnel around a stem that then fills with water and rots the collar, how to spot it before the plant dies, and the three-part fix that actually holds.
beginner25 min4 min readWhy are my bay tree's leaves going yellow?
Reading the pattern on a bay's leaves to separate a starved pot-bound plant from cold wind scorch, bay sucker damage and waterlogging, and the pot routine that prevents most of it.
beginner25 min5 min readWhy are my plants chewed through at soil level?
A plant felled at the base overnight is cutworm, slugs or mice — the shape of what is left standing tells you which, and each needs a different answer.
beginner15 min4 min readWhy are some buds on my blackcurrant swollen and round?
Big bud mite is a problem in its own right and also carries reversion, the virus-like disease that ends a blackcurrant's productive life — how to tell how far gone a bush is.
beginner30 min3 min readWhy do my leaves have pale winding tunnels in them?
Leaf mines explained — why they are not holes, why nothing you spray reaches the larva, and when they matter enough to act on.
beginner12 min4 min readWhat are thrips, and how do I know if I have them?
Silvered leaves with tiny black specks and flecked, distorted flowers — the two symptoms that identify thrips, and why they are so hard to see.
intermediate18 min4 min readWhy is sap or liquid oozing from my tree's bark?
Amber gum on stone fruit, dark bleeding on mature trees and frothy slime flux are three different things — how to tell them apart and which need a professional.
intermediate18 min4 min readWhy have my plant's leaves gone purple or red?
Cold roots, phosphorus lockout, stress and simple genetics all turn leaves purple — how to tell which, and why most cases fix themselves.
beginner12 min4 min readShould I quarantine a new plant before putting it with the others?
Where a new plant's pests actually come from, the two-week check that catches them, and the specific things to look for before it joins anything else.
beginner15 min3 min read