At Martineau Gardens, the plants we grow are cared for organically. We never use toxic sprays, which can be a danger to the birds and other creatures that eat the pests that graze our plants.
Therapeutic Horticulturist, Miranda Kingston, at work Photo credit: C Gray
With conditions in the glass house becoming a little warmer (really, even on a cool, wet day in March), signs of pests returning are afoot. Today, Miranda with the help of the Friday Garden Volunteers gave all our pepper plants a good soapy ‘bath’. We use a natural-soap based detergent mixed with warm water, which gets sponged liberally on the foliage of the plant. Gently the plants are cleaned and wiped, removing eggs of creatures like the adult whitefly, a sap-sucking insect that stunts the growth of plants. Its natural predators are ladybirds and lacewing larvae.