Dormant oils were originally developed centuries ago to combat stubborn scale and mite infestations on fruit trees. At first, these oils were heavy and poorly refined, making them unsafe to use on woody plants after they had broken winter dormancy. Nowadays, horticultural oils are lightweight and highly refined (and can even be used at diluted rates during the summer), so the … [Read more...] about Dos and don’ts of dormant oils
pests
How to eliminate slugs?
Carol in Moose Jaw, SK., asks: How do I eliminate slugs? Beckie’s reply: An efficient way to eliminate slugs is to manually remove them from your plants. It’s a yucky job, but effective. Some people swear by shallow bowls of beer sunk into the soil (the rim of the bowl needs to be at ground level or slightly above). The hops or yeast lures slugs into the beer, where they … [Read more...] about How to eliminate slugs?
Know your bugs
Now that I’m shut out of the garden by frost, I’ve been spending time with a newly acquired book, Whitney Cranshaw’s Garden Insects of North America: The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bugs (Princeton University Press, 2004, $29.95). This is a big book with a modest price, and has excellent colour pictures of just about everything crawling and flying around your garden, including … [Read more...] about Know your bugs
