Troubleshooting - seedlings and plants - part II

​In this series of posts, I will continue to explore common problems with raising seedlings and plants.  In yesterday’s blog, I covered the topic of death.  In this post, I am going to focus on damage, in particular the issues of breakage, pests and disease.  I can’t cover everything, so I will focus on common problems in our garden.  It’s best that I stick to writing about things that are within my experience.

Damage

Seedlings and plants can be damaged in a number of ways, including:

•          Breakage.  Part of a plant may snap off.  This is often caused by the wind.  I have already written a post about the damage wind can cause around the garden.  Two key points: (i) try to mitigate damage by providing adequate support preferably at the time of planting, so you don’t damage the roots later on.  Use sturdy stakes (I prefer wooden ones as they’re stronger than plastic and I’m trying to reduce the use of plastic around the garden) and plant ties (we use old stockings as they’re stronger than string)  (ii) if part of a plant breaks, don’t despair as it may bounce back.  Our Unique Feijoa tree lost a branch a couple of years ago, which caused it to start growing in a lopsided way.  I never expected it to survive but thanks to some extra support that a wwoofer created for it (he used a few stakes and some ties to try and steer it back onto course), it managed to pick itself up again and crops reliably every autumn
•          Pests.  There are a number of creatures which can destroy seedlings and plants if given the chance.  The main culprits are slugs, snails and the dreaded white butterfly (which lays eggs which turn into caterpillars).  All will quite happily munch away at your plants.  Slugs and snails love young seedlings.  Be careful even when your young plants are in the greenhouse and nursery.  Being in pots and punnets doesn’t offer them any more protection, in fact I think I have lost more plants at this stage of their life than once they are planted out in the garden.  How do slugs and snails get into the greenhouse? Well, they can crawl!  I’ve sometimes noticed them on the sides of pots and punnets.  I think some manage to creep in while I’m hardening the plants off, as they’re outside during the day, making it easy for them to nestle onto a tray without being noticed.   To mitigate damage, be proactive and use pest control.  Snail and slug pellets act as a deterrent.  Shaun from Yates, who I met at the Mitre 10 garden club event earlier this month, recommended Baysol.  My gardening friend Kylie Stringer swears by it.  While they are much more expensive than ordinary snail and slug bait, they are water resistant.  You need only use just a couple of pellets per plant.  If you’re trying to garden organically, you could try traps made of beer.  To deter the white butterfly, I sprinkle a little Derris Dust over plants, from the Yates Nature’s Way organic line.  For general protection against insects, it might be necessary to spray seedlings and plants with Yates Success.  I had to use this product on my seedlings in the greenhouse this year as they kept getting eaten by pests, especially the rockmelons.  Another insecticide I use in the garden on my roses is Yates Mavrick, which helps prevent them from being attacked by aphids and thrips.  Other pests include the TPP and pea weevil.  I haven’t had any issues with these pests, so am unable to offer more advice.  There may be other gardeners in the challenge who can help.  Finally, be careful of rodents!  Having a cat or using traps can help.  Mice are constantly finding their way into the garage and love gnawing on my products.  In particular, they like my Yates Blood and Bone fertiliser and snail pellets, so I protect these items by putting them into plastic crates covered by lids.  Mice and rats will also quite happily gnaw at your pumpkins, so store them in a safe place in autumn and check on them from time to time for damage
•          Disease – disease damages plants, resulting in a poor crop or a complete failure to crop at all.  It can also kill plants.  There are many different conditions which can affect seedlings and plants.  One of the most common diseases in our garden is fungus, thanks to Auckland’s humidity and high rainfall.  This manifests itself in a number of different ways, such as black spot on roses, brown rot on stonefruit, grease spots on passionfruit and rust on celery and garlic.  Spraying can help to prevent and control rust.  I use Yates Liquid Copper and Copper Oxychloride on these plants.  Blight is a common disease which affects tomatoes, but I haven’t had any personal experience with it so am unable to offer advice.  I suggest you have a look at Simone’s blog as she covers this issue in depth.  Sometimes my zucchini and pumpkins get mildew on them.  So far, I haven’t taken any action other than pulling out affected plants but I am interested to hear how others deal with this problem (organically or otherwise). 

In my next post, I will cover two final issues on this topic – poor crops and a complete failure to crop at all.
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Today’s photo is of my Loving Memory roses which are now flowering.  I grew them from cuttings from our original standard rose.  I dipped the cuttings in Yates Clonex rooting gel, which helped improve the strike rate.  There is also a Margaret Merrill rose I grew from a cutting which is in bloom, too.