Posts Tagged ‘insects’
Columbine – Leaf Miner
Q: In a matter of days after planting, most of my columbine leaves had serpentine patterns on them. Some look like they will yellow and drop off the plant. Is this a leaf miner? A: Anyone who grows columbine, Aquilegia...
Insect Books – Suggestions
Q: Recently on your television show you mentioned a book on insects. I believe it would make a great gift for our granddaughter. She lives near Savannah and is VERY curious about insects as well as other natural life. What...
Fly – Control
Q: I was visiting my daughter and she pointed out that the west side of her house was covered with flies. She said it happens every year around this time. Is there a way to get rid of them? A:...
Insecticide – Homemade Recipe
Q: Is it possible to make your own insecticidal soap spray? Can you provide a recipe? A: I once tried to make soap from lye and lard. The results ruined a boiler pot, melted the hair on my arm and...
Tomato Plants – Plastic Mulch to Increase Yield
Q: Is it true that putting red plastic under tomato plants will increase yields by twenty percent? A: A great deal of research has been done on different color plastic mulches in the last decade. Scientists have tried red, blue,...
Pampas Grass – Plumes with Disease
Q: My pampas has a fungal look on it that is keeping the plumes from opening up. I have had the same problem for a couple of years. I have drenched it with fungicide early in the growing season and...
Cherry Tree – Bleeding
Q: I was cutting my grass around my cherry tree, and noticed an oozing from a place at the bottom of the trunk. Can I fill in the hole with anything to prevent disease from infecting the tree? A: Gummy...
Hercules Beetle Grub
Q: I’ve seen grubs in my yard from time to time, but yesterday, I ran across a big one. This rascal has to be almost 4″ long when fully stretched out! Normally, grubs are about 3/4″, right? What is it...
Cottony Maple Scale
Q: I have what I think is a fungus on the underside of my red maple. It looks like white puffs of rice with a black spot on one side of the puff. The fungus is on almost every leaf....
Leafcutter Bee – In Branch
Q: I’ve never seen anything like this. A small branch, about as thick as a man’s finger, fell from our mature oak tree. When my husband went to pick it up, he saw a small pile of sawdust at the...
Asian Ambrosia Beetle – On Crapemyrtle
Q: I have toothpicks of sawdust coming out of the trunk of one of my crapemyrtles. The other one looks OK but this one can’t put out much new growth. A: I feel sure you have an infestation of Asian...
Japanese Beetles – Organic Repellent?
Q: I contacted you regarding the use of various flowers, herbs, and horticultural oil as a mixture to get rid of Japanese Beetles. You wanted me to let you know how it worked. I steeped (like tea) Convolvulus leaves (and...
Tomato Hornworm – Droppings
Q: My wife has a couple of tomato plants. This evening she noticed some “things” on a leaf of the plant. Could you please take a look and give us any information you might have about them? A: Somewhere on...
Milkweed Bugs
Q: Last evening I noticed my Mexican butterfly flower’s seed pods were covered up in these little orange bugs that I have not seen before. They are orange with two black spots on their backs about where their shoulders would...
Aspartame – As Ant Poison
Q: Do you know anything about the Internet rumor that says aspartame artificial sweetner kills ants? A: Yes I do….and I consider it false. It’s funny that the email right before yours was from a guy advising me that chewing...
Hornet Nest – Huge
Q: We have a bass lake and “cook-house” that is about 300 yards from our house in Lafayette, Alabama. We have just noticed this hornet nest, about 2-3 feet in diameter.Do any of you know how to get rid of...
Shining Flea Beetle
Q: I found the identity of this critter in a garden forum but I have not been able to find out if it is a friend or foe. About 10 of them were on my chaste tree, Vitex agnus-castus. A:...
