Q.
I have given up trying to grow any sort of onion and also garlic, chives and leeks because they get covered in a little black aphid which completely destroys the plant. If I spray, they go away for a period of time but inevitably come back. I keep thinking there must be something in my soil or the positioning of my vege plots that causes this to happen. The area gets the afternoon sun and in the summer can be quite hot – the plot is up against a wooden fence. Any ideas? Thanks, Janice.
A.
You can spray with an insect spray to control the aphids - check at your local garden centre. Move your onions, garlic, chives, and leeks to another space in the garden and plant something else, not of the allium family, for one to two seasons and without their natural food source they should go away. The eggs overwinter in the soil or plants and so are very hard to control.
Make sure your plants are well watered, fed and actively growing, as soon as plants are stressed, insects know and can almost appear overnight. Regular applications of Tui Organic Seaweed Plant Tonic also helps plants become resistant to pest and disease attack by strengthening the cell wall of the plant.
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How do I control black aphids on my onions, garlic and leeks? Comments
Try to plat near the some herb like Coriander or other herbs which their sense disliked by insects.
say
Thanks for sharing your tip! - Tui Team
jenna
A lot of my fejoa fruit are fully or partly covered with a brown woody growth on the skin. The fruit inside is hard yet normal colour. Where the woodiness is I cannot cut with a knife. What causes & what can prevent this please?
Kathy
Hi Kathy, this is an unfortunate problem. It sounds like a fruit scab, and you can not fix it for this year. As soon as the plant has finished fruiting this season, trim the plant back to allow more air movement into the plant, then spray it with a winter fungal clean up spray (check at your local garden centre), twice over a two week period, this should limit the problem occurring next season. Make sure you remove all the infected fruit from the ground under the plants. Thanks, Tui Team.
jenna