Pest Control

Pests, such as slugs and aphids can pose a major problem for you garden during these summer months. Here we will talk you through some of our top tricks from our horticulturist on how to control them.

Controlling Slugs

When it comes to slugs, there are a few different products available to you to help prevent them from damaging the hard work you have put into your garden. They can cause damage to a wide variety of plants year round, however they pose the biggest risk to you plants and seedlings.

Malachy, our horticulturists suggests the use of slug tape for potted plants to help protect these young plants. Check out the video below where he will talk you though how to effectively use it.

Another option Malachy suggest for controlling slugs in your garden is the use of Organic Slug Pellets or a Slug Trap. There is now a wide range of organic options available, which Malachy explains will protect your plants from slugs, without any chemicals, meaning they pose no risk to birds or any other wildlife in your garden! See the below video where Malachy goes into detail on the best practice for each of these options.

Controlling Aphids

Greenfly are probably the most known of the aphid family. They are attracted to mostly roses, lupins and bedding plants. They can be identified up close as they form in small clusters. They can often be tricky to spot as they camouflage into the stem, almost giving the impression that the stem has a deformity. If you don’t want to added too many chemicals to your garden, below is a great natural solution to solve this problem.

DIY Non-Toxic Liquid Sprays to Deter Aphids

Put a litre of water in a spray bottle with 1-2 drops of washing-up liquid. Spray the water on the stem of the plant and this should get rid of the aphid cluster.

The water and detergent mixture is completely harmless to the aphids. All that happens is the mixture is sprayed on their face, forcing the aphid to rub their eyes. When this happens they simply lose their grip of the stem and fall off as a result!

One disadvantage to this method is that it has to be done daily, otherwise the aphids will climb back up onto your stem overnight.

Another mixture that can be used is garlic with water. For a highly concentrated spray, use around two full bulbs of garlic pureed into half a cup of water. This mixture would not have to be sprayed as often, and generally one spray every 5-10 days will do the trick, depending on the amount of rainfall.

Again, the garlic will not harm the aphids but the smell should deter them. Don’t worry, your garden won’t reek of garlic but an aphid that is up close to the stem should still get a fairly strong smell of it.

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GET IN TOUCH:

Gardens really are our second nature. So if you’d like help with something on this post, or anything else in your corner of second nature, please reach out to us on social media, or by email on hello@countrylife.ie. If the question is quite specific, it’s really helpful to include a photo. We’d love to help.

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