Rose Garden Pests

Archive for August, 2010

Integrated Pest Management

August 22nd, 2010

The Garden as Ecosystem
Twentyfive years ago, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) seemed a utopian dream to mainstream agriculturalists. The idea that plant pests could be kept at acceptable levels without large amounts of chemical pesticides ran counter to everything they had been taught. But now IPM is embraced by nearly everyone involved in the field. What has caused this turn around?

Chemical Miracles
When chemical pesticides were first introduced in large quantities in the 1940s, they were seen as miracles of modern life. Now all farmers had to do was spary their crops with DDT, or some other chemical, and they could achieve complete control.
But within a couple of decades, problems began appearing. The most important of which is the environmental harm done by chemicals which are both toxic and persistent. Even 25 years after being almost totally banned in the U.S., DDT can still be found in the tissue of animals.

But even disregarding environmental concerns, there were a number of other factors that called into question the wisdom of such uninhibited use of chemicals. First, when using an insecticide to control a pest, its natural predators are often killed off as well. This can have the unintended effect of actually causing an upswing in the pest population.

Second, many insects can very quickly develop populations resistant to a given chemical.

And third, when one pest is eliminated the door is opened to others that were less apparent before their competition was killed off. At first the solution to these problems seemed to be to just use more, or different, chemicals, but eventually it became obvious this was no more than a good way to line the pockets of chemical manufacturers.

Avoiding the Problem
The first tenet of IPM is to try to avoid the problem in t he first place. Plants have natural defenses against pests. Problems are more likely to occur when a plant is stressed by its general condition. A plant that receives inadequate moisture or too much sun is less able to put up a resistance to the onslaught of insects.
And those that are planted in too shady a spot, are planted too closely together or get watered in late evening are more likely to suffer from fungi. To minimize problems with fungi, make sure the plants are mulched, have plenty of air circulation and are watered in morning. Try to keep them outside the drip lines of nearby trees and remove the severely damaged twigs and foliage.

Many insects feed primarily on just one genus, or even species, of plant. For instance, the rhododendron lace bug, Stephantis rhododendri, feeds almost exclusively on rhododendron. While its cousin, S. pyrioides, feeds mostly on azaleas. Large, single-species groupings of plants, so popular with landscape designers, are a sure way to create problems.

By the time you notice the Corythucha cydoniae (yet another lace bug) in that huge bank of cotoneaster, it will be too late. Within a few weeks they will have a permanent footing and you will be locked into periodic sprayings of insecticides. By diversifying your plantings you minimize these risks. This doesn’t mean you can’t have small groupings of particular species or cultivars, just avoid those truly massive displays.

If you want to avoid using chemicals entirely, you may have to do without some plants. Except in ideal conditions, most hybrid roses require regular sprayings. Then again, if you can be satisfied with the less dramatic blooms of the rugosas or other landscape roses you can minimize the use of fungicides and insecticides and perhaps avoid it altogether.

Picking the right plants for the right places, planting them properly and giving them adequate care are key to minimizing the use of pesticides.

Striking a Balance
Integrated Pest Management involves using a variety of methods to control pests. But more importantly, it involves deciding when to use those methods. The point is to only deal with pests when the health of your plants or their aesthetic value is in jeopardy.
The latter is obviously a somewhat subjective call, but we all need to relize that no matter what, we will have pests in our gardens. For instance, in my garden I frequently see dozens of aphids munching on my Irises. But they have no effect on the blooms and they can’t even be seen without looking closely.

If I spray them (even with an insecticidal soap), I may harm my very healthy population of praying mantises by eliminating part of their food supply (they love to dine on aphids). These insectivores may be holding in check other pests that I’m not even aware of. So by spraying my Irises for aphids, I may be endangering other plants to other insects.

A lawn is another example of a situation where the best solution is often to do nothing. Assuming one of the reasons you have a lawn is so children can play on it, you might want to avoid using chemical weed killers.

If you’ve planted the right grass for your area, and take care of it properly, it will generally be strong enough to compete.

Natural Controls
There are a myriad of natural controls at work in your garden. Lady beetles, mantises and spiders are all there eating insects. Parasitic wasps lay their eggs in the larvae of other insects where they hatch and devour them from within. And as mentioned earlier, healthy plants themselves produce a variety of means for controlling pests.
You can purchase lady beetles, parasitic wasps and mantis egg casings for release in your garden, but they are probably there already. If someone has been a little heavy handed with insecticide, it may be worth purchasing some of these predators to replenish their populations. Otherwise, introducing more than your garden can sustain will either cause a massive die out or a migration to greener pastures.

Either way you’ve wasted your money.

The best way to maintain a healthy population of predators is to avoid using insecticides, and when you do use them, make sure you are only applying them to the areas at risk.

How to Create a Deck Garden

August 21st, 2010

An important incentive for gardening is the pure pleasure it brings but there are other very practical reasons for planting a deck garden around the perimeter of this outdoor living space. Mixed plantings hide the deck’s framework and the empy often weed filled space underneath. Plantings enhance the look of a deck whether it is high off the ground or at ground level.

Even with a deck with one end at ground level and the other end several feet off the ground, the height of the plants around it can be adjusted. In beds along the side where the deck is at ground level the tallest plants can reach to just above the top of the railing. Toward the higher end larger shrubs and small trees that mature from 10 to 20 feet can form the backbone of the planting.

In both cases the tallest plants are next to the base of the deck with a shorter mix of perennials, ground covers, bulbs, annuals, herbs and roses placed out toward the edge of the bed where they can be seen and enjoyed better.

Replacing grass around the base of the deck has the added advantage of less maintenance. Getting rid of grass eliminates the aggravating, time consuming chores of mowing and trimming grass and weeds around the deck supports. Plantings also do a good job of blocking the base of a deck and cutting down the amount of light underneath it. This effectively hides and reduces the growth rate of weeds that might grow there.

In addition installing edging strips along the perimeter of the beds along the deck keeps grass separate from ground covers. This method helps to cut down on weeding and reduces the need for trimming since these strips leave a single clean edge to mow. Some homeowners prefer the more formal, tidy appearance of edging strips. This is basically a matter of personal taste.

The process of actually creating flower beds to surround the deck does not differ much from designing plantings for other parts of the yard. Sometimes it is simply a matter of selecting the right plants to convert an idea already in mind into a reality. In some cases the conditions of the site place restrictions on what can be done. In rocky soils, the soil generally has to be prepared first before a decision is made as to how the plantings will be arranged.

There is no one approach to the task of deck garden design. The homeowner can design the plantings on paper, select the plants and install them. A garden designer can be hired to complete the entire job. Another possible option is to hire a nursery or designer to select and install some of the deck garden but leave lots of room in the bed for the addition of more perennials, annuals, bulbs and other plants by the homeowner.

In the initial stage of designing a deck garden it is very important to become familiar with the site. Its soil, exposure and shade and sun patterns need to be taken into account. Then the plants must be matched to the site. Any plants should be chosen because they thrive in the existing conditions and will inevitably grow better, require less maintenance and experience fewer problems with diseases and pests.

Study closely the shade and sun patterns that affect the deck. Make note on the garden plan which areas never get direct sun and which sites get sun or shade for only half the day and at what times.

Consider how the prevailing winds affect the deck site. On a windy site a windbreak of some sort will make planting easier to manage and make the deck more comfortable to use. A mixed planting of evergreens, deciduous trees and shrubs is most effective for wind protection. Another option is a fence which can be a quick solution but provides less protection from the wind.

Become aware of the direction that the site faces. Areas that face south are generally warmer but are more exposed especially in the winter. Since sites facing east recieve morning sun and afternoon shade, they are usually cooler than those facing west which are sunny in the afternoon when temperatures are higher.

Check soil conditions by digging test holes. Soil can be improved by adding organic matter, double digging and mulching. However it is a better idea to start a deck garden with plants that will thrive in the existing soil. Over time the soil can be improved to accomodate a wider range of plants. Building stone walls or raised beds and planting shallow rooted ground covers are practical techniques to deal with rocky soil.

Techniques for developing the shape of a deck bed vary. Working on paper to experiment with the best size and shape of beds around the deck can work. A hose or long rope outlining the shape of the bed on the ground is another alternative. Sprinkling flour around the perimeter of the bed works effectively also.

Another option is to outline the bed shape with a series of stakes and a length of string. The trick is to examine the proposed shape from up on the deck as well as out in the yard. Consider whether the shape manages to accomplish what is wanted. Beds that are wider than 3 feet allow the enjoymnet of some of the plants for people while seated and create the feeling that the deck is surrounded by vegetation.

All that remains to do is make the final deck bed shape and do the actual planting work. The end result will be a deck garden that will enhance the beauty of the entire backyard and become an integral part of the entire landscape design where the house, the deck and the garden are linked.

Flower gardens: Grow something beautiful

August 17th, 2010

Flower gardening is like painting. A flower garden is a vista of colour and texture, with proportion, perspective and atmosphere. It can evoke other times and places or make a statement about personality and lifestyle.

Mention flower gardens and many will think of the multi-coloured cottage garden idealised by Victorian artists: roses round the door, hollyhocks against the walls and daisies and flowering herbs rambling alongside paths. Contemporary flower garden designs may be minimalist, with mathematically precise lines and strictly controlled colour. Whatever one’s idea of beauty, it can be translated into a garden.

For novice gardeners and busy people, simple lines and designs are best. A massed flower bed of just one carefully chosen bloom, such as poppies or tulips, can be spectacular. Minimalist designs with a restricted colour range complement modern homes particularly well. Massed flowers are always more effective, even in the traditional mixed herbaceous border, so planting in threes or more is always recommended.

Low-maintenance gardens are best planned around hardy perennials (try day lilies, pinks and peonies) and reliable self-seeding annuals. Alyssum, candytuft, verbena and marigolds will return unaided year after year. Wild flower and meadow gardens aren’t for beginners, but once established almost look after themselves. Indigenous plants always have a headstart.

Most gardeners go for a balance between design and a natural’ look, with a variety of flowers and shrubs and a complementary mix of colours and foliage. The trick is to ensure that as well as looking right together, they share the same soil requirements. It may help to bed plants from similar places together in the same flowerbeds. Pelargoniums will cohabit happily with African cosmos daisies, but may be miserable with plants that like their feet wet, like columbines.

Flowerbed designs are best matched to their contents. Old-fashioned flowers and rambling plants look out of place in sharply geometric beds, for example. Raised beds help eliminate backbreaking bending, but as importantly add texture, depth and accent. Flowering climbers disguise ugly features and add height.

Flowers endow the garden and the home with freshness and fragrance. Lavender is a fabulous and pest resistant perennial that is also good cut. The queen of perfumed blooms is the rose but easier fragrant flower options include stocks, Nicotiana and sweet peas. The sweetness of the freesia is a quintessential spring garden flower scent.

The flower garden changes mood seasonally but with clever planting can be colourful all year round. Plants that produce flowers and then berries brighten gardens across the seasons. But is spring when the garden is at its most exuberant. English gardens burst to life with shy forget-me-nots and bold yellow splashes of daffodil. They are soon followed by bright butterflies and bees. Flowers give them life as well as us.

Garden Pests.

August 14th, 2010

If we could garden without any interference from the pests which attack plants, then indeed gardening would be a simple matter. But all the time we must watch out for these little foes little in size, but tremendous in the havoc they make.

As human illness may often be prevented by healthful conditions, so pests may be kept away by strict garden cleanliness. Heaps of waste are lodging places for the breeding of insects. I do not think a compost pile will do the harm, but unkempt, uncared-for spots seem to invite trouble.

There are certain helps to keeping pests down. The constant stirring up of the soil by earthworms is an aid in keeping the soil open to air and water. Many of our common birds feed upon insects. The sparrows, robins, chickadees, meadow larks and orioles are all examples of birds who help in this way. Some insects feed on other and harmful insects. Some kinds of ladybugs do this good deed. The ichneumon-fly helps too. And toads are wonders in the number of insects they can consume at one meal. The toad deserves very kind treatment from all of us.

Each gardener should try to make her or his garden into a place attractive to birds and toads. A good birdhouse, grain sprinkled about in early spring, a water-place, are invitations for birds to stay a while in your garden. If you wish toads, fix things up for them too. During a hot summer day a toad likes to rest in the shade. By night he is ready to go forth to eat but not to kill, since toads prefer live food. How can one “fix up” for toads? Well, one thing to do is to prepare a retreat, quiet, dark and damp. A few stones of some size underneath the shade of a shrub with perhaps a carpeting of damp leaves, would appear very fine to a toad.

There are two general classes of insects known by the way they do their work. One kind gnaws at the plant really taking pieces of it into its system. This kind of insect has a mouth fitted to do this work. Grasshoppers and caterpillars are of this sort. The other kind sucks the juices from a plant. This, in some ways, is the worst sort. Plant lice belong here, as do mosquitoes, which prey on us. All the scale insects fasten themselves on plants, and suck out the life of the plants.

Now can we fight these chaps? The gnawing fellows may be caught with poison sprayed upon plants, which they take into their bodies with the plant. The Bordeaux mixture which is a poison sprayed upon plants for this purpose.

In the other case the only thing is to attack the insect direct. So certain insecticides, as they are called, are sprayed on the plant to fall upon the insect. They do a deadly work of attacking, in one way or another, the body of the insect.

Sometimes we are much troubled with underground insects at work. You have seen a garden covered with ant hills. Here is a remedy, but one of which you must be careful.

This question is constantly being asked, ‘How can I tell what insect is doing the destructive work?’ Well, you can tell partly by the work done, and partly by seeing the insect itself. This latter thing is not always so easy to accomplish. I had cutworms one season and never saw one. I saw only the work done. If stalks of tender plants are cut clean off be pretty sure the cutworm is abroad. What does he look like? Well, that is a hard question because his family is a large one. Should you see sometime a grayish striped caterpillar, you may know it is a cutworm. But because of its habit of resting in the ground during the day and working by night, it is difficult to catch sight of one. The cutworm is around early in the season ready to cut the flower stalks of the hyacinths. When the peas come on a bit later, he is ready for them. A very good way to block him off is to put paper collars, or tin ones, about the plants. These collars should be about an inch away from the plant.

Of course, plant lice are more common. Those we see are often green in colour. But they may be red, yellow or brown. Lice are easy enough to find since they are always clinging to their host. As sucking insects they have to cling close to a plant for food, and one is pretty sure to find them. But the biting insects do their work, and then go hide. That makes them much more difficult to deal with.

Rose slugs do great damage to the rose bushes. They eat out the body of the leaves, so that just the veining is left. They are soft-bodied, green above and yellow below.

A beetle, the striped beetle, attacks young melons and squash leaves. It eats the leaf by riddling out holes in it. This beetle, as its name implies, is striped. The back is black with yellow stripes running lengthwise.

Then there are the slugs, which are garden pests. The slug will devour almost any garden plant, whether it be a flower or a vegetable. They lay lots of eggs in old rubbish heaps. Do you see the good of cleaning up rubbish? The slugs do more harm in the garden than almost any other single insect pest. You can discover them in the following way. There is a trick for bringing them to the surface of the ground in the day time. You see they rest during the day below ground. So just water the soil in which the slugs are supposed to be. How are you to know where they are? They are quite likely to hide near the plants they are feeding on. So water the ground with some nice clean lime water. This will disturb them, and up they’ll poke to see what the matter is.

Beside these most common of pests, pests which attack many kinds of plants, there are special pests for special plants. Discouraging, is it not? Beans have pests of their own; so have potatoes and cabbages. In fact, the vegetable garden has many inhabitants. In the flower garden lice are very bothersome, the cutworm and the slug have a good time there, too, and ants often get very numerous as the season advances. But for real discouraging insect troubles the vegetable garden takes the prize. If we were going into fruit to any extent, perhaps the vegetable garden would have to resign in favour of the fruit garden.

A common pest in the vegetable garden is the tomato worm. This is a large yellowish or greenish striped worm. Its work is to eat into the young fruit.

A great, light green caterpillar is found on celery. This caterpillar may be told by the black bands, one on each ring or segment of its body.

The squash bug may be told by its brown body, which is long and slender, and by the disagreeable odour from it when killed. The potato bug is another fellow to look out for. It is a beetle with yellow and black stripes down its crusty back. The little green cabbage worm is a perfect nuisance. It is a small caterpillar and smaller than the tomato worm. These are perhaps the most common of garden pests by name.

Companion gardening and how it affects plants – Part 1

August 13th, 2010

Planting “companion” plants near each other in the garden can benefit both the gardener and the plants. The plants will be happier, and there will be less work for the gardener.

“Companion plants” are ones that benefit each other. Some plants add nutrients to the soil that other plants can use, saving the gardener fertilizer. Some plants repel pests that could destroy other plants, saving the gardener pesticides. Some plants provide shelter or structure that is needed by other plants, saving the gardener the hassle of mulching, shading, and staking the plants.

Nutrients are added to the soil by plants such as peas, soybeans, and other legumes (and also alfalfa) because these plants fix nitrogen in the soil. Any crop, planted in the same spot as these plants have previously been planted, benefits from the extra nitrogen in the soil. Other plants aide the production of neighboring plants in different ways. Basil planted with tomatoes is said to improve the flavor. Marjoram and oregano can be planted throughout the vegetable garden to improve the production a variety of vegetables.

By repelling pests, some plants save their neighbors as well as themselves. Marigolds repel a host of insects, including nematodes (in the soil), beetles, and tomato worms, and are planted throughout the garden to protect many plants. Planting garlic and parsley near a gardener’s prize roses can protect them. Parsley also deters pests that would otherwise feed on a gardener’s prize tomatoes. Chives and Nasturtiums repel bugs and are grown around the bases of fruit trees to protect them. Radishes can be planted with squash to deter squash borers. Many herbs work against specific pests, and should be planted with the vegetables that these pests bother. Thyme repels cabbage worms. Basil repels thrips. Sage repels the cabbage moth and the carrot fly. And Rosemary deters cabbage moths, carrot flies, and bean beetles.

Many plants help their neighboring plants by nature of their structure. Some, like thyme and radishes, can provide a living mulch that smothers weeds. Others, like alfalfa and caraway, loosen the soil, making it easier for other plant roots to break through it and go deeper in search of water and nutrients. This can save the gardener hours of backbreaking hoeing. Other plants, like sunflowers and Jerusalem artichokes, can provide shade for other crops, or can act as a living trellis for vining crops like beans.

Some combinations of plants provide multiple benefits. For instance, beet and onions can be planted together to help each other. The onions repel insects that might harm the beets, and the beets add minerals to the soil that the onions can use to grow better. The traditional Native American combination of corn, beans, and squash, called the “Three Sisters,” provides different benefits for each of the three plants. Corn provides support for the beans to grow and shade for the squash. In return, the beans add nutrition into the soil for the corn and squash to use. The squash smother the weeds around the corn and beans, acting as a living mulch for them.

In all these examples, a gardener reduces the amount of work in the garden simply by placing plants near others that they help or that help them. With a little planning beforehand, a gardener can save themselves time and money. The simple act of using “companion plants” can supplement or replace gardening tasks such as fertilizing, applying pesticides, hoeing, mulching, shading, and staking plants.

Rose Garden Pests

Archive for August, 2010

Integrated Pest Management

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How to Create a Deck Garden

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Flower gardens: Grow something beautiful

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Garden Pests.

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Companion gardening and how it affects plants – Part 1

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