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Help please new gardener

Leewood204Leewood204 Posts: 5
in Problem solving
PEST I've brought a dwarf pear tree and apple tree in my tiny yard I noticed a lot on tiny holes and black marks on the leaves I thought it was  snail's or slugs so I went out and got copper tape I put the copper tape around the pots there in but the problem seem to be getting worst there's tiny black things all over the leaves I think it poop and spider webs with small spiders on the web of both trees 
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  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    edited May 2018
    I don't know the answer to your problem, but the droppings look very much like that of a caterpillar to me.
    See what others think

    Re. your copper bands - they prevent slugs/snail crossing the copper as it gives them a small electric shock so they won't cross it. If there are already eggs in the compost, copper bands won't have any effect on these.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • Leewood204Leewood204 Posts: 5
    Thanks I think so as I just seen one and disposed of it 
    Hopefully it is I will go out tonight with a torch
     I have 8 Tom plants about 20 inches tall what are fine what are very close to the trees no signs of any bugs on them strange lol
  • Fire LilyFire Lily Posts: 296
    Most trees become stressed in pots, and if they get stressed, they are more likely to be attacked by pests. The spiders are your friends, as the eat them, so dont kill any spiders. 
    I would plant the trees in the ground and just wait and see if it sort itself out. 
  • Leewood204Leewood204 Posts: 5
    Hi thanks for the reply they are dwarf trees
    So will only grow to 1.5 metres so I've been told
    I've only got a tiny concrete yard 
    I've covered the nasty concrete up 
    With fake grass stones and wood chip 
    But no ground to plant  in
    So everything I plant or grow goes in containers
  • Fire LilyFire Lily Posts: 296
    The pots are to small, even if they are dwarfs, and shoudn't be black as the soil gets to warm. 
  • Leewood204Leewood204 Posts: 5
    Okay thank you I will look for bigger pots  :)
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Then use the biggest pots you can for plants like trees and shrubs and also the best compost you can find - not multi-purpose.   Make sure you feed and water regularly as the fertiliser on commercial compost is only good for 90 days and then the plants starve.

    As the tree is small yet, you could try washing each leaf clean of visible pests either by hand or with a blast form the hose pipe.  If the spiders are proper 8 legged ones, they're your friends.  If they're teeny and red then they are more likely red spider mite and need treating.   See here for more info - https://www.rhsplants.co.uk/pestsanddiseases/_/pests-and-diseases/house-plants/red-spider-mite/articleid.1143/

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • Fire LilyFire Lily Posts: 296
    edited May 2018
    Shade the ones you have until you do, like wrapping it with av old curtain, jute cloth or what you have at hand. :)
    I wouldn't buy anything with an diameter less than 1 meter. If you can get hold of pallet collars, buy 3-4 per plant and stack them on top of eachother. Like this: https://www.plantagen.se/media/wysiwyg/CampaignPages/Palletcollar/pallkrage-stodpelare-spalje.jpg
  • Leewood204Leewood204 Posts: 5
     Thanks for that 
    That' one of the things I thought at first but I think these are to big to be mites
    I hope it' just caterpillars 
    As I've seen two today and removed them 
    I think 
    They where the biggest pots I could find 
    So I think I will make some out of wood 
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I'm not sure many people have pots of one metre diameter.
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