These sap sucking pests start to appear in spring and now is the time to prepare the garden to minimalise any impact. They breed in piles of wood, old fences and overgrown areas. They can spoil tomatoes, figs, grapes, melons, oranges and other fruit. They also like flowers (don’t we all) hibiscus, helichrysums, snapdragons, daisies and dahlias.
They are a very interesting bug, not only to look at, but when courting they stick their backsides together for so long that in the end, the weaker of the two spends the whole season walking around backwards. And if you pick them up or squash them, they let out a terrible smell! All very amusing, if it was not for the damage they can cause.
Now is the time to prepare, and a good starting place is to destroy their breeding habitats. Masses of dry, weedy surface growth needs to be cleared, stacked to rot or burnt. Gaps between fencing palings, cracks and crevices in old sheds or wood piles, should be sprayed fortnightly for the next few months with a contact killer like Clensel. And that should do it and much easier than addressing them once they are around in their thousands.
Scale insects are also sap sucking and are seen as a black sooty mould that covers leaves and branches and have ants charging up and down them. White oil emulsion is relatively safe to use when mixed at a ratio of 50 to 1 with water and sprayed at 3 weekly intervals over the infected plants. This suffocates the pests and prevents eggs from hatching.
It may all seem nice and peaceful in the garden now, but it's not and everything is preparing to make the most of the warming weather, whether you want them to or not.
Enjoy – is that the word!
Peter