vegetable problems

Greenfly and Blackfly

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Greenfly clustered on a rose bud and shoot tip in a UK garden

Greenfly and blackfly are both aphids, sap-sucking insects that cluster on the softest new growth of roses, broad beans, tomatoes and almost anything else, weakening plants and coating leaves in sticky honeydew. The good news is that you almost never need to buy anything. Squash the colonies between finger and thumb, blast the rest off … Read more

Cabbage White Caterpillars

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Cabbage white caterpillars eating a cabbage leaf full of ragged holes

Cabbage white caterpillars are the green and yellow-black caterpillars that strip cabbages, kale, broccoli and other brassicas to bare stalks in high summer, hatched from eggs laid by the two cabbage white butterflies. The only reliable way to stop them is to keep the butterflies off the plants in the first place, with fine insect … Read more