Drowning in Champagne is still drowning. Just more expensive.
Being suffocated by Neem, Lavender or Rosemary oils, is just a more expensive way of bring suffocated than by a cheaper vegetable oil. Even if you did mean only to deter the blighters.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Thanks everyone for the advice! I’ll give a spray a try first. As they are just small (12-15in) plants in window box containers, would anyone suggest just heavily pruning them? And if so, what time of year would you suggest?
Just direct the spray at the offending area. Deterrents will drive off the good as well as the bad.
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Driving off the lacewings and ladybirds is far better than killing them ... they live to breed and feed on our aphids even if it's in another part of the garden.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
@bédé - I do not deliberately kill any insects (beneficial or otherwise) in my garden - which is what using an insecticide or actually spraying them with an oily emulsion does.
I would, however, be more than happy to deter the box moth from laying eggs in the box hedge by making the hedge smell unpleasant (to them). If that also (but I don't know that it does) makes the hedge smell unpleasant to ladybirds, lacewings etc - then so be it.
I wouldn't be actually harming any of them - and they'd just go and settle on the roses instead - or any of the multitude of other hospitable plants in my garden. The box hedging is but a small element of the garden.
Sorry - I don't have a recipe for ticks - unpleasant little things they are.
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
@elainegrove2020 - If you only have a few small plants I think you'd be able to pick over them quite carefully to remove any eggs, caterpillars and webbing - look deep inside the plant too.
I think the caterpillars eat mainly the leaves and box is pretty good at resprouting so (if they're a size and shape you like) I wouldn't prune them hard. Maybe just remove any lacy leaves. The stems should produce leaf buds again - maybe this season or, if not, next spring. If there is damage to the bark and you start to notice any die back I would remove those stems to just below the dead area.
Unfortunately the box moth is becoming increasingly common so you will have to be vigilant for the rest of the season and in future years too. Lots of work is being done with nematodes etc so hopefully some form of biological control will become available before too long.
A few small plants should be easy enough to manage - it's less straightforward when you have 30m of hedge to manage😬 Fortunately I haven't met a box moth yet. Unfortunately my box hedge has been hopelessly and badly affected by blight - yet again. I am rather fed up of fighting that particular fight and may be about to raise the white flag☹️
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
I think because you have small plants and they're in a window box, the situation is really quite different from an established plant/hedge in the ground somewhere. They'll be warmer because of the location, and they'll have less access to rainwater. Both of those things mean higher humidity, and also a tendency to dry out more rapidly, meaning they're a bit more susceptible to any pests and diseases. If you're able to put them out into a more open area from time to time, that might help a little, although I appreciate that may not be possible if the box is fixed in place. Re pruning - I'd agree with @Topbird. Just remove any badly damaged leaves for now. Remember to follow the usual advice in spring too - refresh some of the soil in the box by removing the top layer and replacing with fresh compost, or loam. A layer of gravel or grit on top [after watering ] also sets them off nicely, and helps preserve moisture. The occasional seaweed feed through the main season of growth is also useful, as it is for any foliage plant
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
@Fairygirl@Topbird - Thank you so much for the advice around pruning and the annual soil refresh, I must admit that I didn’t do any of that. 😬
Are my photos good enough for you to see both the little white things and little green ‘pellets’? Do you know which are the eggs? I think this might be a lost cause as they are all throughout the top layer of soil. I *may* have operated a “live and let live” policy for too long… 😁
@Topbird - good luck with your hedge! Fingers crossed for you.
I'll have to pass on that @elainegrove2020, as we don't have that problem with blight or the caterpillars here. @Topbird, or some of the others who've experienced it, will be able to advise on what the eggs etc are like. I expect the white things could be eggs though. The little greenish pellets will be slow release food, which is present in all commercial compost. That's nothing to worry about at all. Don't worry about the soil too much. Whatever you have them planted in just now should be fine until spring, although it would probably do no harm to add a bit of fresh stuff soon, as long as it doesn't cover the original level the plants were at in your container. Soil levels in containers always settle and drop, so they need topping up from time to time. The trick is to make sure that when you plant them, the original level the plants were at, in their original pots, is no lower than around an inch from the top of the container. That means you can easily add extra soil/compost without burying the main stems
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Posts
Being suffocated by Neem, Lavender or Rosemary oils, is just a more expensive way of bring suffocated than by a cheaper vegetable oil. Even if you did mean only to deter the blighters.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I would, however, be more than happy to deter the box moth from laying eggs in the box hedge by making the hedge smell unpleasant (to them). If that also (but I don't know that it does) makes the hedge smell unpleasant to ladybirds, lacewings etc - then so be it.
I wouldn't be actually harming any of them - and they'd just go and settle on the roses instead - or any of the multitude of other hospitable plants in my garden. The box hedging is but a small element of the garden.
Sorry - I don't have a recipe for ticks - unpleasant little things they are.
@elainegrove2020 - If you only have a few small plants I think you'd be able to pick over them quite carefully to remove any eggs, caterpillars and webbing - look deep inside the plant too.
I think the caterpillars eat mainly the leaves and box is pretty good at resprouting so (if they're a size and shape you like) I wouldn't prune them hard. Maybe just remove any lacy leaves. The stems should produce leaf buds again - maybe this season or, if not, next spring. If there is damage to the bark and you start to notice any die back I would remove those stems to just below the dead area.
Unfortunately the box moth is becoming increasingly common so you will have to be vigilant for the rest of the season and in future years too. Lots of work is being done with nematodes etc so hopefully some form of biological control will become available before too long.
A few small plants should be easy enough to manage - it's less straightforward when you have 30m of hedge to manage😬 Fortunately I haven't met a box moth yet. Unfortunately my box hedge has been hopelessly and badly affected by blight - yet again. I am rather fed up of fighting that particular fight and may be about to raise the white flag☹️
They'll be warmer because of the location, and they'll have less access to rainwater. Both of those things mean higher humidity, and also a tendency to dry out more rapidly, meaning they're a bit more susceptible to any pests and diseases. If you're able to put them out into a more open area from time to time, that might help a little, although I appreciate that may not be possible if the box is fixed in place.
Re pruning - I'd agree with @Topbird. Just remove any badly damaged leaves for now.
Remember to follow the usual advice in spring too - refresh some of the soil in the box by removing the top layer and replacing with fresh compost, or loam. A layer of gravel or grit on top [after watering ] also sets them off nicely, and helps preserve moisture.
The occasional seaweed feed through the main season of growth is also useful, as it is for any foliage plant
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
We need to look a the wider picture. Should we spray? Should we favour one insect over another? And. and ...
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Are my photos good enough for you to see both the little white things and little green ‘pellets’? Do you know which are the eggs? I think this might be a lost cause as they are all throughout the top layer of soil. I *may* have operated a “live and let live” policy for too long… 😁
@Topbird - good luck with your hedge! Fingers crossed for you.
The little greenish pellets will be slow release food, which is present in all commercial compost. That's nothing to worry about at all.
Don't worry about the soil too much. Whatever you have them planted in just now should be fine until spring, although it would probably do no harm to add a bit of fresh stuff soon, as long as it doesn't cover the original level the plants were at in your container.
Soil levels in containers always settle and drop, so they need topping up from time to time. The trick is to make sure that when you plant them, the original level the plants were at, in their original pots, is no lower than around an inch from the top of the container. That means you can easily add extra soil/compost without burying the main stems
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."