Creepy crawlies, creeping and crawling

Even though I woke up to a light frost the other day, there are more signs than not of warmer weather coming, and right on its heals are a range of pests like gall wasp, citrus leaf miner, katydids, fruit fly, codling moth, pear and cherry slug etc, etc. As soon as you see one, you know more are coming. And if you have had issues with any of these pests in the past, you can be pretty sure they will be back!

Prevention is not passive and work needs to be done to protect the plants

The first line of defense is the soil, always the soil! Healthy soil creates strong plants, and strong plants are more resistant to pests than weaker ones. So feed your soil and the life that grows in it as the first step. It won't stop everything, but it is the best start.

And then there are a wide range of different sprays and approaches to stop individual pests. Talking to a range of different people and reading plenty, Bug Off products seem to be a good all-round product, providing a protective coating over the fruit and veggies. Bug Off products are not poison, rather they create a fine mineral coating over the foliage, branches and fruit, making the plant far less interesting to certain pests.

You can see once the spray is on, making it easy to know what’s been covered and not. With the weather and plant growth, this cover will disappear, and once that happens you can re-apply more, about 6 – 8 weeks.

DON’T use Bug Off on blooms though, you will still want the pollinators to do their job.

If you have applied Bug Off and want to harvest when the protective covering is still on, just wash it off before eating.

There are a few brands around, I know Vasili sells one and most nurseries should be able to help. Look around for it, it will be worthwhile

Enjoy

Peter