Barrier glue recommendations

[RaptorUK]

Ants crawl up to 'milk' aphids for the honeydew that they produce and then protect the aphids from natural predators such as ladybirds and lacewing larvae.

Not just aphids, I have ants actively farming scale insects on my Lemon tree

[blondiewonder]

I do take K of A's point about things being in balance - we do need aphids to feed the birds etc, and nature is a big circle and all that.

The problem is when the balance doesn't leave any room for the chap who is growing the crops to actually eat the crops. I mean, I wouldn't mind caterpillars and pigeons eating SOME of my brassica leaves if only they left some for me!

Thank you 😀 a good point that others seem to miss in there strive for perfection.


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[blondiewonder]

I go a long way to be ecologically friendly, I don't use chemicals when I can avoid it, Slug pellets being one exception but I am looking into safer ones etc etc. But there has to be a line drawn somewhere or you wouldn't walk on the ground for fear of killing something. You can carry these things too far and feeling guilty killing ants is in my opinion too far.

👍


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[veggiechicken]

Thank you  a good point that others seem to miss in there strive for perfection.


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


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It seems to me that those who "strive for perfection" are the people who want all their fruit and veg to look like supermarket stuff - totally round, shiny and unblemished.

Blondiewonder - is that little square a comment?

[bearded bloke]

Blondiewonder - is that little square a comment?

It's an emoticon VC,Ipad smileys are not recognised by the forum software

[veggiechicken]

Thanks BB. Seems I shall just have to imagine what it was

[bearded bloke]

I think they need editing by the poster to show their meanings,or they need to be deleted as they have no clear meaning to members not viewing this thread on an Ipad.

[blondiewonder]

It seems to me that those who "strive for perfection" are the people who want all their fruit and veg to look like supermarket stuff - totally round, shiny and unblemished.

Blondiewonder - is that little square a comment?

Sorry jus realised this app doesn't recognise my smileys so I'll do it the old fashioned way :-)


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[Two_Sheds]

I don't use chemicals ...Slug pellets being one exception but I am looking into safer ones

Wildlife friendly slug pellets


Yes, they work
They're twice the price, but you can use half as many: one tub lasts me 3 years

[Knight of Albion]

A glue trap ... Is there anything more cruel?

I'm tempted to put up a direct link but thought better of it as I know many people are distressed by such scenes, but if you need convincing, Google 'PETA* Glue Traps: Pans of Pain - Wildlife Factsheets' read the article and watch the video then you'll understand where I'm coming from.

That is what glue traps are and that is what glue traps do...

They are totally indiscriminate instruments of extreme suffering and slow death.

And I see no difference between the macrocosmic and the microcosmic... Cruel is cruel.

[* No, I'm not a member. I find their stunts undignified.]

[Knight of Albion]

Cruel as it may sound I am trying to use the best way possible keep to the aphids off certain areas of my garden, as I explained before the vaseline did not work, I am wanting to introduce some ladybirds into my garden but all literature says get the ants out of the way first as ants protect aphids and the the ladybirds will then not have much to feed on. Of course I could have gone down the pesticide route but then that does more harm to more things than simply trapping ants. As I am at the top of the food chain in my garden I'm afraid I'm going to have to get a little selfish and deal with the ants otherwise quite a few things will be spoiled and what would it all be for, to save the ants? Sorry if this doesn't not fit in with your gardening ideology but we can't all be perfect.

If it's that much of a deal to you, you'd probably have more luck using companion planting. Peppermint, spearmint and pennyroyal naturally deter both aphids and ants.

[Knight of Albion]

I do take K of A's point about things being in balance - we do need aphids to feed the birds etc, and nature is a big circle and all that.

The problem is when the balance doesn't leave any room for the chap who is growing the crops to actually eat the crops. I mean, I wouldn't mind caterpillars and pigeons eating SOME of my brassica leaves if only they left some for me!

Yes, but it's perfectly possible to protect plants from hungry creatures, whatever they might be. Obviously or nobody would ever grow anything.

I've been gardening here for 31 years and I've grown an abundance of all manner of things over the years and this without recourse to trapping, 'squishing' or poisons (- and with ants farming aphids on a rose bush out front)
Where there's a will ...

[fishpond]

Yes, but it's perfectly possible to protect plants from hungry creatures, whatever they might be. Obviously or nobody would ever grow anything.

I've been gardening here for 31 years and I've grown an abundance of all manner of things over the years and this without recourse to trapping, 'squishing' or poisons (- and with ants farming aphids on a rose bush out front)
Where there's a will ...

I assume you do not grow to show?
As an aside I ate a slug last week, purely accidental, it tasted of strong fish, does this make me a bad person or is it the way forward with the predicted shortage/rising cost of food in the near future?
Slug and chips

[Potstubsdustbins]

No comment I would get in trouble

[Knight of Albion]

'No kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted' - Aesop