Bugs ,mites

[Alice70]

Hi going away from lung health for this post ,I've only been into gardening these past to seasons ,can anyone of you gardeners help ,my flowers petals in particular are been eaten away by bugs or mites my pansies in particular are destroyed even before they flower ,just been checked I can see like a tiny blackish beetle also a tiny fly ,can anyone help, advice on how I can get rid of them

[Damon1864 Volunteer]

Hi Alice I know this sound silly but make a garlic spray and spray your plants, it does work it's what the Queen's garden use as pest control. Let me know how it works have a lovely day and take care of yourself 😊 Bernadette xx

[Alice70 in reply to Damon1864]

Thanks damon ,I'll give it a try tomorrow as it is raining now ,I suppose you crush the garlic ,I'll Google it

[Damon1864 Volunteer]

You can use garlic salt if that helps.xxx🤗

[CDPO16]

Hi,

I can't be sure if this is your problem, but slugs and snails love pansies. They are around more in wet weather. Garlic spray will deter aphids such as black fly but not slugs and snails. Some gardeners use slug pellets but these aren't considered to be very 'green' now and some say birds eat them along with the dead poisened slugs and snails although I have never found that to be the case in my garden.

Good luck with your gardening endeavours which can often be a battle with nature and nature often having the upper hand! Non the less I hope it brings you a lot of pleasure.

[Alice70 in reply to CDPO16]

No it's not slugs cdpo ,it is black little mits thank you any way

[SORRELHIPPO]

One of my aged relatives used moth balls to deter slugs and sprayed with diluted washing up liquid for other flying nasties, no idea if it worked.

[Alice70 in reply to SORRELHIPPO]

I'm going yo try the garlic sorrel ,but thank you

[Izb1 in reply to Alice70]

The monks used to plant garlic in between their vegetables to keep the slugs and bugs away, it seemed to work, so go for it. Sorrel is a herb we all had in the garden years ago and can be used in loads of dishes. Good luck x

[Izb1]

It sounds like slugs. You can kill the slugs by using a small tin filled with some beer, they are attracted by the beer and fall in and cant get out, ground beetles kill the slugs as well. The small bkack flies will be attracted to this as well. Bane of all gardeners, hope it works for you x

[Alice70 in reply to Izb1]

Thanks izb

[megshafer in reply to Izb1]

I have bought alot of beer this summer for slugs!! They are big drinkers!! But, it sure cuts down their numbers! We have some rather long ones!! They were eating everything.

For the black mites...I use alittle unscented Dawn dish soap in a squirt bottle. It seems to take care of them, until a hard rain and they come back.

Meg💐💐🌹🌹🌹

🚫🚫🚫🐌🐌🐌🐜🐜🐜

[Izb1 in reply to megshafer]

Hi Megshafer, I know, have had a few of these horrid long ones, where did you get the Dawn dish soap from, not heard of this before but will try anything, might try this on my bay as this has now got leaves curling with some kind of insect laying x

[megshafer in reply to Izb1]

Hi! I get it at the local grocery store. I bet Amazon has it....remember just alittle bit and the unscented one. My roses, and petunia are back and beautiful!! I worked with the amount. Got this from my neighbor.

Meg

[Izb1 in reply to megshafer]

Great thanks Meg x

[Lemon7]

I heard of organic gardeners who don't like slug pellets using beer traps or egg shells around plants to deter pansies from being devoured. Think more nature friendly products are available online to kill slugs, ones that are safe for pets etc. Good luck

[Alice70 in reply to Lemon7]

Thank you lemon ,but not slugs

[Whitechinchilla]

Hi Alice

I too use garlic spray as does Damon.

It really does work.

Just crush 3 cloves and cover with water. I keep it in a small jar with the lid on and after decanting into a spray bottle I often use the same garlic again. Fortunately I grow my own garlic so that it is organic. But I imagine garlic from the supermarket would work just as well.I leave mine for a few days to marinate!!! Then spray each leaf if you can. It’s time consuming but well worth the effort.

If it is slugs doing the damage naturally you will see the trail they leave behind.

I think the very hot weather is to blame. Well we always blame the weather don’t we.😉😉

[Alice70]

Just going to town for some garlic thank you wcc

[Sparkywoo]

Another vote for the garlic spray. Really effective and much better than spraying a load of chemicals on your garden 😀

[Christabella153]

I have a lot of earwigs this yer & they do eat a lot of plants