Tackling Fruit Pests
Protecting Strawberries
The start of summer is a busy time in the horticultural calendar with planting out of the tender vegetables such as sweetcorn and courgettes and the first of the harvests. This year I purchased some new strawberry plants which were planted up into troughs in late February into a mix of old Tomato compost rejuvenated with EX4 Fertiliser. Just over 12 weeks later and two applications of Bumper Crop Tomato Food the berries are swelling and ripening.
At this stage the most important thing to give strawberries is plenty of water, either through drip irrigation or directed to the base of the plants, if they dry out even once cropping will abruptly stop. I grow my strawberries in a glass frame, this protects them from excessive rain, which can easily rot the ripening fruits and hungry birds i.e. the local blackbird population who spend hours walking along the outside of the glass trying to get in to them! The frame should have some ventilation though and where there is no glass mesh can easily be attached to prevent birds entering.
Dealing with Pests
Unusually I had an outbreak of Strawberry Aphid on two plants which was dealt with very effectively by one application of Bug Control Concentrate. It is the first time I have used this product and I have to say I’m impressed.
Codling moth and Plum moth are two major pests of apples and plums later on in the season. Codling moth larvae which burrow into the fruit are a major apple pest that causes fruits to fall early and the damage caused to the fruits creates an entry point for major fruit diseases such as brown rot. Similarly plum moth larvae burrow into the ripening plum fruits causing them to ripen early and rendering the fruits inedible.
The adult moths are active and mate from about mid- May to late July although this is seasonal dependant on temperatures but with the evenings getting warmer, early June is certainly the time when moth activity increases. The increase in activity results in large numbers of eggs being laid on the developing fruits, where they hatch and burrow into the fruit.
Setting Simple Sticky Traps
An easy way to determine the number of moths present is to use a pheromone trap that can be used to assess moth numbers and time a spray programme or to just reduce the number of male moths which then cannot mate with the females.
These are really quick and simple to set up, there are four parts to each trap, a hanger, trap, sticky card and a lure. The sticky card is unfolded and the lure placed in the centre.
This gives off a pheromone similar to a female moth. The card is then placed into the trap and the ends of the trap folded in to keep the card secure.
The hanger is attached to the top of the trap and then simply hung at around head height on the windward side of the tree.
Male moths are attracted to the pheromone given off by the lure and enter the trap thinking there is a female in there ready to mate, they then drop onto the card and come to a sticky end!
Caring for Tomato Plants
Late May and early June is the busiest time of year in the glasshouse. This year I am growing eighteen cultivars of Tomatoes in Ring Culture using two composts which are 50% Peat based Multipurpose / 50% homemade garden compost (Shredded and composted hedge clippings mixed with grass cuttings) which for every 60 litres of this mix I add 45g of EX4 and 15g of Sulphate of Potash added to prevent excessive early vegetative growth. 50% Coir / 50% homemade garden compost (Shredded and composted hedge clippings mixed with grass cuttings) which for every 60 litres of this mix I add 90g of EX4. This is a standard potting mix with a nutrient base of 3 grams per litre.
Although the tomato plants here are looking quite past their sell by date and really should have been planted a week or so ago, tomato plants are very forgiving and will soon recover, grow and crop well. I always find that you ultimately get better results by planting a tomato that has got open flowers or even small fruits on it than a small vegetative plant which often just grows excessively vegetation with little or no fruit. Its only when it carries fruit and becomes stressed that water is diverted into the fruits that growth slows. The key point with tomato planting is to plant deep, they don’t mind this as they readily root from the stem, and the more roots produced in the ring the better as they can then take up more nutrients. In the early stages, certainly for the next couple of weeks there is enough nutrition in the ring to keep the plant growing, however if the temperatures are high and growth tends to be vegetative, I will feed with Bumper Crop Tomato Food, with a high Potassium content this will help balance and slow growth.
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