new shoots, but new pests

Took out the two broccoli today. They looked ready, but taste a little sour :( I wonder if their taste has anything to do with the soil they were in. They where in very clay soil, their leaves had been chopped by slugs, but a used no sprays... they certainly look healthy, but taste sour. Perhaps I picked them too soon or too late?

The cauliflower and brussel sprouts have a little bug all over them. The damage appears to be minimal, but I don't know what they are and so have no idea how to get rid of them.. I've done a brief search for cauli pests, but can't find anything that looks like what I have here... They could be mealybug but I'm not so sure. The mealybugs I know are more white than this grey colour, and are flatter and harder to see as bugs. These are easy to see as bugs.. note: the Internet needs a user generated image index where I can just scan images of pests categorized by their colour and size perhaps... or upload my own image for others to help identify...

Finally, we have some fruit buds on the tomatoes, and new shoots on the potato tires :)

1 comments:

  1. Peta said...

    Hi Leigh you've got aphids! the bane of all brassica crops through summer. I only plant them in autumn now as they also get attacked by the white cabbage moth caterpillars. Did you check your broc. heads before eating? The aphids & caterpillars get right in there & you can't even wash them out! That maybe why they tasted sour!
    You can use Neem spray for the caterpillars & vege oil for the aphids. Also remember the story I told about the roses? Ladybirds love aphids & will get to know where they are over time. The ladybirds like to overwinter in hollow dead stalks so leave some around the garden.



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