Beautiful once again thank you Pip. I’m wondering if you have harlequin bugs in your roses at Moorfield? I really struggle with them here and need to figure out what the biological controls could be. Wondering what I should plant around them to resist the bugs? I’ll keep reading & learning.
Hi there lovely. I've never struggled with them quite like I have here and so I have been doing some reading on this too and 1/3 dishwash soap to water spray in a container and shake beetles into it is suggested by Gardening Australia but in terms of biological controls it is tricky. They omit a stink which means many birds don't attack them but apparently their eggs can be attacked by parasitic wasps, the same ones we attract with achillea and alyssum to deal with aphids. They like the mallow family too for breeding, so try and keep those weeds down or any related family members, like hibiscus, hollyhock and linden trees, or if you live near big cotton producers, this can be an issue. Biodiversity as always seems to be the answer, lots of habitat for birds and bugs, lots of food sources for beneficials. They won't do too much damage in small numbers thankfully but an infestation can also just be caused by having a particularly mild end to winter which we had so it made it the perfect hatching season so their populations are larger than normal. Hope this helped a little xo
Yes we have fields of mallow so I spent a couple of years fiercely mowing which helped a bit but then last year I just got overwhelmed. The dishwashing soap stopped working and a dozen other recipes with everything else natural also got nowhere. I even paid a teenage niece and her friend to do daily clearing out the harlequin beetle raids knocking them into containers of dishwashing water.. nothing worked. I sadly ended up with a systemic powder to poison them but I see that we’re about to have another problem year. Maybe the weird weather too .
Oh that is so frustrating. I can understand why you're getting really frustrated and overwhelmed with the process. Have you much diversity in the planting in and around the roses to attract any natural predators. I know that because we are in the early stages of getting everything established we don't have that biodiversity yet and that is affecting our pest problem, or the soil health where it needs to be. The weird weather we can unfortunately do nothing about and I assure you that has a lot to do with it. Fields of mallow! You poor thing!!! xo
Firstly I can’t find natural predators of harlequins and I feel as if I need to learn more about creating the right conditions for them. I am reasonably good at creating guilds for my productive food gardens (being an old permie helps) but I want to learn more about how to do this for the cut flower gardens I’m expanding around the house. Maybe if you ever have an open garden tour or a workshop on roses I could come along? Hint hint hint 🤣🤞🤞
Hahahahha yes, it's coming just gotta get our heads above water on a few other things and then we will open her up, potentially just for rose workshops to start with, which will include a tour of the whole garden. OK so I know if you plant a tonne of the following you will attract beneficials inc. parasitic wasps and to eat the eggs of Harlequin beetles......achillea, sedum in fact all umble shaped flowers like fennel, Queen Anne's Lace, Dill, Carrot left to go to flower, alyssum, eryngium and I find if I let all my herbs to go to flower too, they attract them in huge numbers. You'd know too then being a permie re: understory and overstory for increased bird activity and soil health too, that the overall health of the soil affects plant health, affects attractiveness to pests too, so you know all of this.......so, hmmmm what to do?! Is there some way to out compete the mallow field and decrease their breeding and feeding ground over the longer term, not a short fix. Was just reading this link on Sophie's Patch, seems she has had much the same issue as you. Link: https://sophiespatch.com.au/2022/03/06/harlequin-bugs/ xo
Lovely to see the garden coming along ... it is drying off quickly here in Rushworth hoping the green stays a bit longer your way although there is rain forecast for the coming weekend 👏👏👏 Your garden will be a healing place for you all over the coming months and years 🪴🥰
Thank you, Carol. Yes always a place of healing, the garden. We had the most wonderful rain when we got home from Sydney and it was exactly what the garden needed xo
Beautiful once again thank you Pip. I’m wondering if you have harlequin bugs in your roses at Moorfield? I really struggle with them here and need to figure out what the biological controls could be. Wondering what I should plant around them to resist the bugs? I’ll keep reading & learning.
Hi there lovely. I've never struggled with them quite like I have here and so I have been doing some reading on this too and 1/3 dishwash soap to water spray in a container and shake beetles into it is suggested by Gardening Australia but in terms of biological controls it is tricky. They omit a stink which means many birds don't attack them but apparently their eggs can be attacked by parasitic wasps, the same ones we attract with achillea and alyssum to deal with aphids. They like the mallow family too for breeding, so try and keep those weeds down or any related family members, like hibiscus, hollyhock and linden trees, or if you live near big cotton producers, this can be an issue. Biodiversity as always seems to be the answer, lots of habitat for birds and bugs, lots of food sources for beneficials. They won't do too much damage in small numbers thankfully but an infestation can also just be caused by having a particularly mild end to winter which we had so it made it the perfect hatching season so their populations are larger than normal. Hope this helped a little xo
Yes we have fields of mallow so I spent a couple of years fiercely mowing which helped a bit but then last year I just got overwhelmed. The dishwashing soap stopped working and a dozen other recipes with everything else natural also got nowhere. I even paid a teenage niece and her friend to do daily clearing out the harlequin beetle raids knocking them into containers of dishwashing water.. nothing worked. I sadly ended up with a systemic powder to poison them but I see that we’re about to have another problem year. Maybe the weird weather too .
Oh that is so frustrating. I can understand why you're getting really frustrated and overwhelmed with the process. Have you much diversity in the planting in and around the roses to attract any natural predators. I know that because we are in the early stages of getting everything established we don't have that biodiversity yet and that is affecting our pest problem, or the soil health where it needs to be. The weird weather we can unfortunately do nothing about and I assure you that has a lot to do with it. Fields of mallow! You poor thing!!! xo
Firstly I can’t find natural predators of harlequins and I feel as if I need to learn more about creating the right conditions for them. I am reasonably good at creating guilds for my productive food gardens (being an old permie helps) but I want to learn more about how to do this for the cut flower gardens I’m expanding around the house. Maybe if you ever have an open garden tour or a workshop on roses I could come along? Hint hint hint 🤣🤞🤞
Hahahahha yes, it's coming just gotta get our heads above water on a few other things and then we will open her up, potentially just for rose workshops to start with, which will include a tour of the whole garden. OK so I know if you plant a tonne of the following you will attract beneficials inc. parasitic wasps and to eat the eggs of Harlequin beetles......achillea, sedum in fact all umble shaped flowers like fennel, Queen Anne's Lace, Dill, Carrot left to go to flower, alyssum, eryngium and I find if I let all my herbs to go to flower too, they attract them in huge numbers. You'd know too then being a permie re: understory and overstory for increased bird activity and soil health too, that the overall health of the soil affects plant health, affects attractiveness to pests too, so you know all of this.......so, hmmmm what to do?! Is there some way to out compete the mallow field and decrease their breeding and feeding ground over the longer term, not a short fix. Was just reading this link on Sophie's Patch, seems she has had much the same issue as you. Link: https://sophiespatch.com.au/2022/03/06/harlequin-bugs/ xo
Lovely to see the garden coming along ... it is drying off quickly here in Rushworth hoping the green stays a bit longer your way although there is rain forecast for the coming weekend 👏👏👏 Your garden will be a healing place for you all over the coming months and years 🪴🥰
Carol
Thank you, Carol. Yes always a place of healing, the garden. We had the most wonderful rain when we got home from Sydney and it was exactly what the garden needed xo