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You've got a bad infestation of fig wax scale. The ants are there for the honeydew, and are ant-farming.
You want to get rid of the scale, they're basically living off of your plant, using up resources. If it's a small plant, you can use a pen or other pointy thing and pop as many off as you can, onto a small drop-cloth, to be destroyed. The rest can be ...
13
They look to be aphids. You can squish them with a pinch of your thumb and forefinger (you do not need to squeeze so hard as to crush the leaf). Repeat every time you see them, until you don't see them anymore.
They are also easily jetted off with a spray from a garden hose, but I doubt you want to do this with an indoor plant. Most insecticides, including ...
13
30 cm is absolutely not deep enough to deter the rats. They easily dig that deep to get to food. Regular Chicken Wire is neither strong enough or is woven small enough to keep them out. Try to google "Rat Mesh", and you will find wire mesh made for keeping rats out.
Take it seriously, you do NOT want rats near your house.
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That looks like the worst case of scale I've ever seen. Are the tops of the leaves sticky, and is there more of it on the central rib of each leaf (top and/or bottom)? If so, that pretty much clinches it.
Yes, you definitely need to treat it. You'll find some advice here, but maybe someone has better advice for such a horrible infestation. What I would ...
12
Many people plant marigolds (Calendula officinalis, not the French marigold, Tagetes) as a 'trap' crop, but the 'trap' attracts aphids, particularly blackfly. The theory is, if the blackfly inhabit the marigolds, they won't inhabit your roses or whatever it is you're trying to protect.
In my experience, blackfly do love marigolds - not quite as much as they ...
11
The problem is the mulch - cats like anything that's loose and which they can scratch and move around easily, so freshly dug soil, mulch, pea shingle, anything like that is the equivalent of cat litter so far as they're concerned. The best mulch to use to discourage cats is probably coca shell, if that's available - that has a habit of 'bonding' together to ...
11
This year I have had such a problem.
I am having partial success with "Ultrasonic Motion-Activated" system as proposed by Mike Perry.
By partial I mean that the cats seem to stop pooping in the places where the system is installed, but move to other "corners" of the garden. I have moved the machine 3 times for now, the cats haven't yet returned to the ...
11
Snakes generally hang out where they can find food and shelter. To discourage them, you need to remove both incentives. Blocking out the porch is a good first step. You also need to remove any brush or wood piles, or anything in the yard that looks like a home to a snake. If you have a fence, keeping the grass cut short around it is a good idea. If you ...
11
I'd be very surprised if its actually rats eating your plants - rats will eat almost anything, but plants would be the last thing on the list, unless its a fruiting vegetable plant such as corn. You may have rats coming to check out the balcony, especially if, at any time, you've eaten out there or left other foodstuffs lying around, including things like ...
10
I have only ever noticed pill bugs feasting on stuff that is piling up and rotting as they usually don't come out into the air or sunshine. So I would be interested to know if you have enough space between plants and if you are leaving food (rotting leaves etc. piling up near plants). It seems strange that these guys would come out into the open to feed.
I ...
10
You'll never get it completely flat before you use it, though it will tend to flatten over time.
To get most of the curl out, unroll it "upside down" so that the wire on the end bites into the ground. Put a couple of cement blocks or something heavy on that end. Roll out the rest of the fence, putting weights on it wherever it wants to curl back up. Leave ...
10
Spiders eat meat (bugs), hence the web to trap them, and have no interest in eating plants. If you're seeing spiders, you probably have bugs that they're eating. If you remove the spiders, the bugs are free to eat the plants unencumbered. I would leave them. The caveat to this would be if the spider is a black widow, though its hard to imagine a black ...
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It appears that earthworms will not be harmed by it. "Diatomaceous Earth will not harm warm-blooded animals or earthworms
Earthworm farmers use it to treat their worm beds for parasites, fungus gnat larva etc. Earth worms are structurally different from insects in that they can actually digest particles of DE. The particles are then eliminated in their ...
10
Most spiders are friends to your garden, they eat insects, likely including pests you want gone. I can think of one true spider that you might not want getting cozy in your garden. Meet the Brown Recluse:
That darker brown fiddle-shaped marking on the head is suggestive of the species. Their eyes are more distinctive, one pair at the center, two pairs to ...
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Since woodpeckers don't eat wood, concentrate on killing the insects that the woodpeckers are actually eating (rather than "keeping the woodpeckers away" by some means other than removing their food source.) Though if the tree is as described, I'd also suggest taking scions to graft to new rootstocks as it may be in serious trouble and at least that way you'...
10
I've had rats living in my allotment compost bins for years; we try to ignore each other. My bin is made of pallets so is hard to make rat-proof. A plastic bin should be more secure, except for the open bottom - the obvious weak point for rats to enter. I don't know if 30cm is deep enough to deter rats, they're tenacious little sods. Personally, I'd be ...
9
Here are some often repeated remedies. However ducks are like people with individual likes and dislikes. What might terrify one duck could be "ho-hum" to another.
a plastic owl: usually available at birding stores, sometimes outdoor/hunting stores. Get the better quality ones with a head that moves or the deluxe versions with wings that move. (I'm not ...
9
That looks like it could be imported cabbage worm (Pieris rapae). Though it could be one of the other species that also gets lumped under the generic "cabbage worm" label.
I've had similar-looking worms and very similar damage. You can (mostly) prevent them from getting on your cabbage (and other brassicas) by using row cover as soon as you transplant or ...
9
The simple answer is:
You can't. Spiders can get in anywhere, and as long as it is an environment which offers shelter or food they will use it.
Your biggest bang for buck is in clearing spider egg clusters when you see them - this will keep the numbers down to one or two in residence at a time, but even if you let all the eggs hatch, they whittle their ...
9
I note you're in Scotland - most of the UK has been incredibly wet this summer, not so sure about where you are, but this has meant an explosion in the snail and slug population. Slug pellets - the little blue pellets of death, metaldehyde based, will do the trick, but don't over apply, just a light sprinkle around the day lillies, reapplied after rain, or ...
9
There are a less and less ways to do this fast since the 2009 ban on using pesticides in Ontario. Your goal is get your lawn to grow roots faster than the three different species of grubs can eat them.
nematodes can provide some control but are fussy to apply and should be reapplied yearly. Best recommended way to apply is:
applied with a hose end sprayer....
9
Mantids are not spectacular for pest control because they're very indiscriminate in choosing their prey. They readily attack other beneficial insects as well as harmful or pest insects.
I always get a few each year, usually around something that is blooming. In my area, they like to sit and wait for pollinators.
They like to attack larger prey and tend to ...
9
Those are grubs. There are a lot of kinds of grubs, though, and they look so similar, you often can only tell them apart by their rear ends (seriously, see below)
They feed on roots (usually turf, but also trees, perennials, and other plants) as larvae, and then emerge from the ground as beetles, which feed on the leaves. I think they might be masked chafer ...
9
Spiders in the garden are total GOOD GUYS. The amount of insects they control is wonderful!! They will not bother you! Now Tagenaria aggrestice or the Hobo Spider, Aggressive House Spider, Wolf Spiders...Brown Recluse you DON'T WANT in your home. If they bite you you will probably need antibiotics or the necrosis could turn into gangrene. Not cool ...
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Agreed, its an aphid infestation, specifically what's known as Oleander Aphid, which affects plants in the Apocynaceae family (which Adenium belongs to) as well as Asclepiadaceae - more info in the link below, if you really want to know about it in detail, but if you've got neem or horticultural oil as a spray, that should work in getting rid of them. I ...
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How to check for spider mites.
Spider mites live on the underside of leaves, and are reddish brown or pale in color, oval-shaped, and very small.
Obvious signs of infection are white webbing, yellow blotches on leaves, and even silver or bronze streaks. If an infection gets particularly bad, leaves can start falling off.
To confirm an infection, take a leaf ...
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I haven't done specific research, but am happy to provide you with my personal experience.
Every year I grow many varieties of marigolds and they're always among the least bothered in my garden. Animals who eat annuals and perennials planted alongside my marigolds almost always completely ignore them. Those include chipmunks, rabbits, squirrels, and larger ...
answered Apr 4 '16 at 21:39
Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL
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9
Your Pokemons are waxy scale, or coccidae. Your description in the comments above is spot on: another name is "tortoise scale".
The Florida wax scale (Ceroplastes floridensis) looks quite similar, but I wouldn't venture a definitive id based on a few photos, Ceroplastes japonicus (pictures) is another possible candidate, and there are more Ceroplastes.
As ...
8
Hand picking them at night is a great way to get a large population under control. After you have reduced their numbers you could try a few things.
If you have mulch around your plants you may want to move it back away from the plant stems. Mulch is a great hiding place for slugs.
They do not like to go over any rough material so spreading some ...
8
I've had a pair of mallard ducks come to my yard. (Unlike you though I welcomed them...)
In any case - they did not take residence - they just liked to visit often. I wish they had stayed to lay eggs - and nest
They did not damage my garden
They returned the next year and hung about - no nests, no "angry duck mom".
If you don't want wildlife perhaps ...
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