Where Are The Garden Predators - Garden Pests are Winning

Where are my garden predators when I need them?

For many years now I have no sprayed insecticide on anything in my garden.

The only exception has been that for the last two years I have had to resort to spraying my Jacobs Ladders that were being decimated by grey caterpillars. Nothing seemed to predate them and there were just too many plants and caterpillars to o round removing manually.

The first two or three years were difficult but the no spray has worked well with the natural predators gradually overcoming the pests. However this spring it is different. I have never seen so many blackfly on my Achillea. I left it to nature to do its business but all that happened was that the infestations got heavier and more destructive. I used my early season trick of using the hosepipe to blast them off but they were back again in no time. The plants were suffering so badly that I felt I had no choice but to resort to the dreaded insecticide spray.

More: My Garden is My Space: Where Are The Garden Predators - Garden Pests are Winning