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Get your garden out

In summer i put hose straight into lawn, i will certainly start putting water change in watering can and evenly putting in lawn.

Was just wonderinf if adding slight amount of EI mix into a watering can and walking over lawn would help or make a substantial difference.

Thanks
 
If you have trace salts to spare @Deano3 you can use one of these Hozelock sprayers:

1654955385473.jpeg

Use a teaspoon of trace, little splash of seaweed extract to 5 litres of rainwater. On a dry and windless day just spray over the entire lawn once a month during the summer.

Works well at weed suppression as the grass dominates over the years:

1654955647508.jpeg
 
Geoffrey Rea said:
If you have trace salts to spare @Deano3 you can use one of these Hozelock sprayers:

View attachment 189808

Use a teaspoon of trace, little splash of seaweed extract to 5 litres of rainwater. On a dry and windless day just spray over the entire lawn once a month during the summer.

Works well at weed suppression as the grass dominates over the years:

View attachment 189809
Click to expand...
Very nice thats the information i was looking for will certainly do that, dont have any sea weed extract bit will do the trace for sure, thanks Geoffrey
 
Any thoughts on this . Every summer get damage by Lily beetles. All the lily's are in pots as it's a small space. Very hard to control as we know and defy anyone to find one when they fall off. Just now nothing(everything crossed) and lily's in bud no damage or sign of presence at all. I noticed l have put a small Rosemary plant in a pot among them in winter for protection . The Rosemary taking off, could it be companion planting detecting the beetles
 
PARAGUAY said:
Any thoughts on this . Every summer get damage by Lily beetles. All the lily's are in pots as it's a small space. Very hard to control as we know and defy anyone to find one when they fall off. Just now nothing(everything crossed) and lily's in bud no damage or sign of presence at all. I noticed l have put a small Rosemary plant in a pot among them in winter for protection . The Rosemary taking off, could it be companion planting detecting the beetles
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Never heard of that working to be fair, though never say never!! could be you’re just having a good year.

For natural remedies squirting the larvae with soapy water or sunflower oil is supposed to be fairly effective. For adults, putting paper under the plant before giving it a good shake can help you to find them, but you’ll need to be quick before they fly off.

I try to embrace bugs where possible.

I’ve been lucky enough to get mullion moth caterpillars this year and even put a screen up to shield some of them from the birds. 😂
5234E60C-D17E-475A-8ED9-A1C3D5C07A0E.jpeg
F289B230-5746-4F01-8865-C3F35D099277.jpeg

Unfortunately with that approach and lily beetle you’d likely get lots of pretty beetles but not many lilies left 🙁
 
Hi all,
KirstyF said:
Unfortunately with that approach and lily beetle you’d likely get lots of pretty beetles
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I'm a believer in "live and let live", but I do hand pick (and kill) Lily Beetle (and Vine Weevil) adults and larvae.
KirstyF said:
For adults, putting paper under the plant before giving it a good shake can help you to find them, but you’ll need to be quick before they fly off.
Click to expand...
I creep up on them, put my hand under the leaf rosette and then hopefully the beetle falls into my hand. You can find the larvae on the leaves and scrape them off, but it is a particularly disgusting experience.
PARAGUAY said:
noticed l have put a small Rosemary plant in a pot among them in winter for protection . The Rosemary taking off, could it be companion planting detecting the beetles
Click to expand...
It might work, they are incredibly efficient at finding Lilies (and Fritillaries) by scent. If you watch your Lilies on a sunny day in May you will see the Lily Beetles flying in and landing on the plant, even when they are hidden amongst other plants.

I've actually seen a lot fewer this year, and <"boom and bust"> is often the way with invasive alien species.

cheers Darrel
 
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dw1305 said:
Hi all,

I'm a believer in "live and let live", but I do hand pick (and kill) Lily Beetle (and Vine Weevil) adults and larvae.

I creep up on them, put my hand under the leaf rosette and then hopefully the beetle falls into my hand. You can find the larvae on the leaves and scrape them off, but it is a particulalry disgusting experience.

It might work, they are incredibly efficient at finding Lilies (and Fritillaries) by scent. If you watch your Lilies on a sunny day in May you will see the Lily Beetles flying in and landing on the plant, even when they are hidden amongst other plants.

I've actually seen a lot fewer this year, and <"boom and bust"> is often the way with invasive alien species.

cheers Darrel
Click to expand...

Yeah, they are particularly damaging little blighters!

Regarding scent. I’ve heard of people using garlic spray to get the adults to fly on past. No idea how well that works but could be another weapon in the arsenal!!
 
Thanks @Kirsty and @Darrel . Yeh did think it may be just a seasonal thing and everything seems to be doing well this year but was curious with the Lily's have not done well for a couple of years and the Rosemary was a thought. The Lily beetle is stunning but the larva. ugh! I have let everything grow nature friendly and in the back garden has grown overgrown climbing rose growing through the ivy. Blackbirds Sparrows and a Robin nesting this year . Had a visit from a Sisken unbelievable colours . Agee about the vine weevils though ever since they destroyed a hardy fuschia in a container a while back😐
 
It's been a funny year here as well. Normally we'd see a sea of shiny slug trails but with such a dry spring (or at least that's what I'm thinking is the reason) we haven't had much slug/snail damage at all. It's similar with not really having a cold winter, we thought we'd get plagues of aphids and pests but again not really had any problems.

The funny thing is the animals we have tried to encourage into the garden have been the biggest pains, my new amelanchier was almost completely stripped of buds in one day by the sparrows who then ripped off all the viburnum flower buds as well. We have also been rudely awaken most evenings by horny hedgehogs using the front garden to rutt/mate or generally splat the plants (don't mind the splatting but the noisy grunts and foreplay half the night is sometimes a bit much) .
 
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