who is an un-welcome guest in your garden? Pest-hotline

Just got the bad news about my Lonicera Halliana... Pest, kill it before it takes over the whole neighbourhood.
Which other plants have you had that escaped their boundaries, that misbehaved, that had bigger plans than you had with them?

Please share, so I don't BUY these monsters, and other people along with me!!
Save the planet from pests, save US the money for nice plantlings!

Christie

You might want to check out the invasive plant forum.

I am not just wondering about invasive plants, but all plants that didn't perform, didn't live up to the expectations, that were more maintenance than they are worth...
I look at the invasive forum too, thank you.

Hmm, unwelcome guest in my garden... many plants that I'm removing slowly but surely but the most unwelcome guest in my garden is my neighbor who has repeatedly reported me anonymously for what ever she can think of. I fondly refer to her as Mrs. Kravitz- yup I re-named her after the meddling neighbor from the series Bewitched. When I see her walking around, I run and hide so I don't have to talk to her. Sometimes she corners my husband and asks him a lot of questions. If she has her back to the house and he is facing the house, I'll go to an upper window and make wild gestures to catch his attention and I once held up a dry earase board that said "blah blah blah blah" and I watched my husband on the sidewalk below trying not to crack up laughing while desperately trying to avoid looking up to the window where I was holding up the dryerase board with something else I had written on it.

Lucifus familiaris - aka mother - in - law.

gagging with pop coming out my nose!

Lucifus familiaris!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For me its I cordatotriloba, a morning glory that got away from someone and is trying to eat my neighborhood. It utterly overwhemed my hedge rose last year. I pulled off as many flowers and seed pods as I could, but most of them were out of my reach.

X

Sounds like a job for Red ~ this guy is eating his way thru this county! Holes in fences, ground, fences, plants... He has uprooted plants known to kill. Chewed them up and spit them out!
I need to move him from Gardening Assistants to the Gardening Lessons and Challenges category in the journal! ...and from this county to another one! X ~ you want him? I pay freight...

What a cutie! I'm afraid Red might have a hard time with the hedge rose. It has really nasty thorns that will reach out and grab you! Kind of like those sucidal telephone and light poles that jump out in front of your car from time to time.

X

Reach out and grab him! I like that thought. I need to plant some I guess... Sorry Mrs_Colla but he really is a pest!

oh pod, you know you couldn't live without him. c'mere red, c'mon boy, i'll take ya!

I would have to say morning glories, I love them but I like to plant different ones every year in this one flower bed that I have and they always reseed from the year before so I'm forever pulling the seedlings of last years crop lol I know, I do it to myself lol

Another pest, the neighborhood cats, there should be a law about cats being outside, I have lost a juniper that I loved by the front door, and now they are working on my var. solemon seal (sp) on the other side of the front, I'm probably the only person that has to have litter boxes in their flower beds lol I even have a liter box in my garage and still walk in their mess, they do use the box to pee in though, thank goodness for that! I'm gonna start charging the neighbors for cat litter lol

Interesting dog! I never knew dogs were such diggers!!!

And the cats; yep, they think the world is their backyard. Mine are only allowed out when I am too, and the first thing they do is to make a peepee walk. "Mine, mine mine, lalalala"

I almost wanted morning glories; thanks for the heads up!!!

Christie

I've got to have morning glories, don't get me wrong lol They aren't that hard to pull up if you don't want them reseeding, there are just so many of them, I wouldn't let that stop me from planting them, just know it will keep you busy! lol

Now, look at MY new un-welcome guest!
They appeared on mail order brugs! Out of the blue!
Any ideas on how to get rid of them, and what are they?
Should I tell the nursery I ordered them from?

Those are aphids. Did they come on your mail order brugs? If so, I would tell the nursery. You can use insecticidal soap on them. I'm wondering if the nursery gave the plant a dose of excess nitrogen fertilizer before they shipped them out. If so, the magnesium in a weak epsom salt tea will help to knock the excess nitrogen down.

Lovely, absolutely lovely. Those are aphids. What a special "gift" to receive with your plants. Now you can buy a host of products to get rid of them that will probably result in costs greater than the plant itself. Lucky you. I'd keep that plant away from your other plants and box it back up and send it back to them for a full refund. Do not reward them for sending out infested plants by keeping it. Then, go to the Garden Watchdog and post that you received plants with hitch hikers on them and sent them back for a refund. Aphids aren't horrible but they certainly are a pain in the rear and I don't quite get why nurseries thinks it's not big deal to send out plants with extras so to speak. I doubt seriously if the nursery that sent you those will send you an e-mail that says, "Gee, we're sorry. You can control them easily by using abc or xyz product and we are so sorry for your trouble and will be forwarding product to you to take care of the aphids". Anyway, dobutful that would be the type of response yoy would get so best to simply ship them back. If they refund your money, go ahead and change your rating at Garden Watchdog to something more appropriate. If they don't refund your money claiming aphids are no big deal or what ever the excuse du jour may be, hopefully you used a credit card and can contest the charges.

taken off

This message was edited Jan 29, 2007 9:19 AM

Christie ,

Those are Aphids . They are a common problem when growing indoors or the greenhouse during the winter . We spay continuously for these during the winter and I am sorry if we sent some to you that probably had eggs that have hatched . I must say I have never seen them on top of the leaves like your photos unless they are dead and have fallen from the underside of leaves from above . . Most any insecticide for aphips will kill them or if you don't want to use strong stuff . Neem oil will smother them . You can also take them outdoors and give them a spray from the water hose to knock them off . Fortunately Aphids will usually not kill a plant . They are just a big nuisance and seem to like some plants better than others . Once the plants are outdoors the predatory insects such as the Lady Bugs , Praying Mantis , etc take care of them .

Hope this helps ,
the nursery person


THEIR ANSWER...

This message was edited Jan 29, 2007 9:18 AM

What does your gut tell you about a nursery that tells you "We spay continuously for these during the winter and I am sorry if we sent some to you that probably had eggs that have hatched . must say I have never seen them on top of the leaves like your photos unless they are dead and have fallen from the underside of leaves from above . . Most any insecticide for aphips will kill them or if you don't want to use strong stuff . Neem oil will smother them . You can also take them outdoors and give them a spray from the water hose to knock them off . Fortunately Aphids will usually not kill a plant . They are just a big nuisance and seem to like some plants better than others . Once the plants are outdoors the predatory insects such as the Lady Bugs , Praying Mantis , etc take care of them "? This tells me they have a problem that is not under control yet they are still shipping plants.

For the record, although they may be a common problem when growing indoors or the greenhouse during the winter for this nursery, they aren't for many other nurseries or private growers such as myself who grow plants indoors and in greenhouses.

Here's an interesting thread on aphids as well as a few other ickies for you that you might find interesting-
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/584997/
"One thing on the Aphids though, you probably need to set out a bunch of ant baits. Ants will farm Aphids so if you don't address any ants you have, you could end up with another aphid infestation."

I've been ordering plants on line for a very long time. That type of an infestation is unacceptable.

A serious answer to the thread question: Morning Glory Star of Yelta, Gooseneck Loosestrife which was misidentified by the mail order nursery as a variegated, tame form - not the monster. They were wrong. Chasmanthium latifolium - nightmare with those seeds. They are everywhere in my garden and not easy to pull up. Eupatorium 'Chocolate' - same deal - seeds have spread this nuisance everywhere. Norway Maple. DEER, rabbits and squirrels. I'll think of more.

Victor

Hey Victor, I feel for you.

Thanks, Equi. It's always a challenge but I still love it!

Victor

Umm, would you like to come over and visit me so you can feel double challenged ;)

Thanks for the offer but...

Oh but... I insist. Really and truly. Don't be shy now ya hear. You wouldn't be imposing at all. Bring the whole victorgarden clan. I cook well when I want to. I'll fill your tummies and give you a nice place to sleep so we can all go out and battle more invasives together the next day.

Well seeing as I consider my two boys as invasives, I might just come and dump them there.

That's perfectly fine. It's been rather quiet around here lately since some of our boys are gone now (I've got one here doing laundry and it's darn near 8:30pm- too cheap to go to a laundromat close to his apartment) so we'd be more than happy to take those "weedy" species off your hands to replace a few that are normally gone. Send em on over! All us adults can sit around sipping adult beverages from lawn chairs under umbrellas while we crack whips and watch the weedy boys work on my weeds.

Well now your offer is sounding more appealing! Sorry we've hijacked the thread, mrs_colla!

Victor

Ah, just thought of one that bothers me a lot in summer; BINDWEED!
I left for 5 days on vacation, and when I came back, a lot of my newly planted perennials were choked!

Beautiful plant, indeed, but hard to get rid of without chemicals!

I don't care about being "hijacked" after what happened to me on another forum!
Go ahead; have fun!
We can always pick it back up after this, no biggie!
PEACE, CC

Bindweed ~ makes me think of one we get here in the spring. I saw the first starts of it today. Cleavers. Nasty stuff till it dies down. Odd though it was considered an old medicinal plant.

Ugh, field and prairie bindweed. Both are nasty. And to think there was a time when I thought they were cute popping up in lawns.

Oh goodie! A new member who appreciates a good hi-jack! I rarely mind when one of my threads gets hi-jacked for fun and I particularly like the ones that get hi-jacked that veer all over to the extent that really good information comes out.

That being said... victorgardener- game plan change since you have a sense of humor and given we all know how worthless children are who weed even if they are paid. I'm thinking I need a break so I say I take my husband's checkbook and hire some people to do exotic species removal for one weekend. Me and your wife take my husband's credit card and your credit card and go to Gurnee Mills taking mrs_colla, beaker, podster, X, tracksinsand, LeBug, and garden_mermaid with us. You and my husband take all the boys and go to Six Flags Great America. The next day we repeat the process only we all come back to my house for a big bonfire of buckthorn! And just to keep this thread some semblance of on track... Buckthorn is a very unwanted guest over here.

Not a bad idea but I still prefer watching my kids work - especially if it's like 95 and humid.

victor, do you douse them with a water cannon when they slack off?

Victorgardener, seems like you know about children and work. How do you get a 6 1/2 year old to work? LOL

make the work seem like a game?

If the game doesn't require batteries, my young man will not... unless he can beat it with a stick!

garden_mermaid's got it I think.

Here's what I used to do to get them to put away their toys and pick up the clothes they stripped off their bodies and dropped everywhere. I bought a black witch hat at Halloween. I sat down on the couch with my yellow concrete broom (any broom will work because they get the idea) and I cackled about the evil witch mommy eating small children who didn't pick up after themselves. Every once in a while I'd get up and feel their arms or their calves to check for plumpness and tell them that the hard work was keeping them too muscular and that they needed to slow down to build up fat so they wouldn't be too chewy when Daddy Warlock and me ate them and then they'd run off giggling to get clothes down the chutes and such. Then I'd get up with my broom and poke them in the butts and tell them that their butts were still plump and that would reduce them to more fits of giggles as they put their hands on their butts to run away from me to pick up toys. Sometimes if they were slacking I'd prod them with my broom in the butt and cackle. Last summer one of them said that he remembered when I used to do the evil witch mommy deal and that he was describing it to one of his friends and that the friend was in disbelief that he had a mom who would sit around in a witch hat going after kids with a broom to get them to clean up. It worked and it was fun. One of my friends tried it and it worked for her too. Most of my friends seemed to have lost their silly bug and were too uptight to try it but they sure thought it was an interesting "trick of the trade".

So there you go. My deep dark secret of how to get kids to stop being such slobs.

I use a more direct approach - outright bribery. Works every time.