Archive for Garden Pests – Page 3

Treatment for Blackberry and Ivy – How To Get Rid Of It

Garden Tips for getting rid of Plant Invaders

The best time of year to treat blackberries and English ivy is coming right up…..so prepare now!

Blackberry Fruit

How can anything so sweet, be so evil?

Plan to treat invasive blackberry in September and early October. The reason for the specific timing is this: only in the fall will the plants pull an herbicide to the roots, thereby killing the entire plant. The rest of the year treatments are only partially effective. For greener garden practices that use less chemicals treat the plants only in the fall, and water your bad old blackberries well prior to treatment. In fact you could even fertilize them and pamper them for about two weeks…….and then treat them with an herbicide.

My long time client Pat Tangeman  is clearing a large area of her property. She bulldozed last winter and got rid of a decades old blackberry wilderness that had an extensive root system with many large stumps. However, even a bulldozer didn’t kill all the blackberries! Many came back this spring so she called me to problem solve and design a planting plan for the area.

The result:
This fall she will treat her remaining blackberries and will allow the herbicide to trans-locate to the roots to truly kill the plant. Then she will have the remainder of large roots dug out. Once this is done she can plant the new garden we designed together. Victory over the blackberry!

Another client in the Dunthorpe area is having her English ivy treated by professionals the first of September. She is utilizing the same techniques by doing the pre-watering and pampering herself. Once the invasive plants are dead we will be ready to place her new garden plants from her garden planting plan.

Not sure still when would be a good time? Need a professional hands on approach to help get you started? There are still a few appointments for Garden Coaching open in September and October. Winter is also a great time for making plans so you can have what you want instead of taking your precious time to care for a layout and plants you don’t like.

Attack of the Root Weevils in Portland Shade Gardens

Why you should care about root weevils, and what to do about them once you do.

Many Portland established shade gardens have  leaf damage from adult root weevils (see photo showing leaf notching). It is ugly, but it doesn’t kill your plant. A lot of leaf notching can spoil the looks of the plant just when you wanted to enjoy its beauty. The serious problem is caused by their larvae who eat the roots of your plants during the late fall and winter. It is very difficult to kill the larvae because they live underground nestled into the roots of your plants to be close to their chosen food source. Think of them as tiny, tiny zombies! Rooooooooooooooootttttssssssssssssss………..

So how do you know if you have a root weevil problem? Here is what I recommend:

Root weevil damage on hydrangea in Portland landscape design

It’s the damage done to the roots that we worry about. We must control the adult weevil before she lays her eggs.

Check your indicator shrubs for notching! These are Hydrangea, Red Twig Dogwood, Azalea, and Rhododendrons. Many perennials will also show the notched leaves such as Hostas and Coral Bells (Heuchera).  If you have only a few notches, you don’t have to do anything or you could treat once a year as a preventative measure.  If you have more than a few notches, we need to talk but you can also check out my other root weevil blog for all the gory details of killing root weevils.  It is tricky to do.

Don’t bring them into your garden………Here is a timely tip, be very picky about buying plants on discount, or at fundraisers!  Look for notching on the leaves, and don’t buy any plant that has notching, or is near plants with notching.  Root weevil can walk over to the plants near by and lay eggs so even if there is no notching on a plant there are probably eggs in the potting soil.  You don’t want to introduce them into your garden. (I’m not saying they came from your freshly purchased potting soil….root weevil just walk from one plant to another and lay their eggs.)

Now the important part. How do you get rid of them?  Hand picking is the easiest to actually do but they can be very hard to spot.  This dull colored beetle is only 1/4″ and hides effectively in the top of the soil or inside a leaf crevice. It can take checking your plants several evenings a week with a flashlight to find even one.

The chemical products out there are harmful to you and the bees which we need in order to have food. Using chemicals to get rid of root weevils is definitively not the way to go.

I purchase living nematodes that are specifically listed for root weevil. Properly applied, they will swim through your soil, enter the body of the root weevil larvae, and lay their eggs. The nematode hatchlings will eat the larvae. Initially you will do this in both September /early October and the following May which are the ideal nematode vs. larvae times!

The 3 most important things:

The soil must be warmed up and moist

You must apply the nematodes at dusk, never in direct sunlight.

Get the timing right-treat in May or early June.  Treat again in September.  If we are having a cool May you may want to wait until June.  In September you want to be sure your soil is well watered prior to the treatment of nematodes, and then water well for two weeks following the treatment. This will eliminate some of the root weevil problem for the next year.  You will have to repeat the biannual treatments for a few years to get the weevils properly controlled, and then continue with a once a year preventative treatment cycle (in September).

You’ll get better results if you use Pondzyme in the water before you add the nematodes.

The good news is that it is really easy to do…ok it’s tedious but your shade garden can look so bad if root weevils become numerous.
1) Take a 5 gallon bucket and fill it up with water.
2) Treat the water with a product called pondzyme (people use it to protect their fish from the additives in our water). I use 1 and ¼ teaspoons of Pondzyme to 5 gallons of water.
3) Add the nematodes to the water.
4) Using a plastic pitcher, not metal, I then water the nematodes into the soil where I see leaf notching.
It is very little effort for a dramatic and healthy result.   Good gardening!

Resources:

March Biological is mail order.  I like them.
Living nematodes for root weevil larvae can often be purchased May through September at: Portland Nursery
http://www.portlandnursery.com/
Farmington Gardens
http://www.farmingtongardens.com/
Cornell Farms
http://www.cornellfarms.com/
and other higher end garden centers.
Tranquility Ponds has 3 locations and they sell an 8 oz bottle of Pondzyme for $26.00.  Remember you need the pondzyme to protect your nematode warriors from chemicals in our water so don’t skip this step.  It is very concentrated so it should last you a very long time.    http://portlandpondsupplies.com/