Cool season vegetables like brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, kale, brussels sprouts) and Asian greens can all attract a variety of insect pests such as aphids and caterpillars.
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Aphids are small sap-sucking insects that can be white (you’ll see those on summer crops like beans, tomatoes and mint), grey, brown or black. They infest the leaves and stems of the winter crops depleting them of valuable sugars and nutrients leaving foliage distorted and yellow.
Aphids can also give rise to the black fungal disease ‘sooty mould’, which develops on the ‘honeydew’ secreted by sap-sucking insects.
Caterpillars are another common insect pest – often difficult to spot when so many eggs are laid beneath the foliage and evidence is not clear until the leaves begin to look like lace doilies. The caterpillars of both the cabbage white butterfly and cabbage moth literally chew their way through mountains of leaves and into the hearts of the crops.
Daily inspections to remove any larvae plus keeping the plants nurtured with regular supplies of food and water will help boost growth. Fortunately Yates Nature’s Way Citrus and Ornamental Spray is based on natural pyrethrin (from the pyrethrum daisy), canola oil and added seaweed. Spray the foliage each week where the pests hide. Keep an eye out for snails and slugs too, which can be controlled with a light sprinkling of Yates Blitzem pellets.
Small fruit developing on many varieties of citrus trees over summer heralds the crop we will be picking in autumn, winter and spring. However, citrus may have a few problems that will need some tender loving care. If you have noticed a black ash-like covering of the branches and especially trail of ants running up and down the trunk, it could indicate the presence of scale insects. Scale are also sucking pests that can be covered in a white waxy coating. They excrete the honey dew on which the sooty mould grows.
If the scale insects are controlled then the sooty mold and ants will gradually disappear. Be sure to control another sap-sucking citrus pest commonly called the brown and orange ‘stink’ bug.
Deep and thorough watering of citrus, particularly container grown plants, will help to reduce water stress and any dropping of young fruit.
Use a wetting agent and a mulch around the shallow roots of citrus to promote healthy and productive trees.
