| Show | Stand | Dates | Where | Opening Times |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harrogate Spring Flower Show | S24 | 22 - 25 April 2009 | Great Yorkshire Showground | 09:30 to 17:30 |
| Malvern Spring Gardening Show | GSP/431 | 6 - 9 May 2009 | The Malvern Show Ground | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| RHS Hampton Court | 6 - 11 July 2009 | Hampton Court Palace | 10:00 to 19:30 | |
| RHS Tatton Park | D/37 | 21 - 25 July 2009 | Tatton Park, near Knutsford | 10:00 to 18:30 |
Mary Ellen Taylor fell in love with our native plants and especially hostas and bulbs, when she moved to London from South
America (Ecuador) 7 years ago. She thought she'd seen all sorts of insects and pests, but was horrified by what she found
in her small London garden. She had never seen the likes of slugs before and was soon seeing the damage they did - lacy
hostas in her Battersea garden!
Hardly the thing for someone who had come to study botanical painting at the English Gardening School. Mary Ellen also
studied garden design at the school and became more aware of how to combat our garden pests.
One of her tutors, Steve Bradley, told her about nematodes and soon after Mary Ellen applied her first treatment, having
bought a pack of Nemaslug at the Chelsea Flower Show.
"They really worked and I applied the nematodes every six weeks to keep the slugs away. Now I have hostas to be proud
of," says Mary Ellen. "My courtyard garden doesn't get a lot of sunlight, so plants that like shade and damp are ideal
and I've now extended the borders to get in more plants."
[top]
Increase in VAT in Littlehampton
Becker Underwood, the world's largest producer of beneficial nematodes for crop protection, is increasing production
capacity for 2010 having just installed another 25,000 litre production fermenter in their British factory at
Littlehampton, West Sussex. The new vat dramatically increases the factory's capacity to meet the ever increasing demand
for nematodes throughout the world. Becker Underwood, already the world's largest producer of nematodes, is now even
bigger.
"Becker Underwood is not only the largest producer of nematodes in the world but we also produce the largest range, we
are the only company who can provide all the commercially available nematode species" says Dr. Graeme Gowling, head of
Becker Underwood's UK operations. "We are now producing nine species in total targeting a diverse range of pests for
agriculture, horticulture, turf and home and garden markets.
"Becker Underwood's attention to quality and product development has established nematodes as a significant biocontrol
agent in these sectors," continues Dr Gowling. "Key characteristics are that they are reliable and persistent in use,
easy to apply, leave no harmful crop residues and are crop safe.
"Traditional markets for nematodes in protected cropping continues to grow and we have seen considerable growth from open
crop areas such as vegetables and turf."
[top]
When Barbara Legg from Pangbourne in Berkshire found she had a dreadful Leatherjacket problem in her prized lawn she
turned to Nemasys for help.
"Initially I was a little apprehensive about doing it," says Barbara. "So my neighbour applied it to the garden for me.
"We tried a test area where all the leatherjackets were and left one small area untreated which was at the front of the
house. Within a couple of weeks it had completely cleared the problem. My neighbour was most impressed as he had never
used Nemasys before although he had heard about it. As it turned out the instructions were easy to follow and my initial
reservations were completely unfounded. It was an absolute doddle."
[top]
New Nemasys Grow Your Own
Nemasys has come up with an answer to gardeners' prayers - their new Grow Your Own Fruit and Vegetable Pest Control.
There is nothing more demoralising for home gardeners, and especially those new to gardening, than growing carrots,
turnips, swedes or other root vegetables only to harvest them ready for the pot and find that they are full of root fly.
Grow Your Own is a unique mix of different nematode species to target a broad range of pests - some of the most common
fruit and vegetable pests. Especially for the home gardener, it has been specifically researched to combat carrot root
fly, cabbage root fly, leatherjackets, cutworms, onion fly, ants, sciarid fly, caterpillars, gooseberry sawfly, thrips,
and codling moth. It is so easy to use that the gardeners do not have to worry about application times or thorough
investigations as to what the pests actually are; they just follow the programme.
Nematodes kill target pests, in one of two ways, depending on the pest. For pests in the soil, such as root fly maggots,
you apply the nematodes as a drench to the soil where they will be. For pests on the plant, such as caterpillars you spray
the solution directly onto the pest. Start applying the nematodes when you plant out.
Ants are the exception, ants do not tolerate the nematodes near their nests and move the nests away from these areas.
With the new Grow Your Own mix whilst you are drenching the soil to target carrot root fly, you can also save a little of
the solution to spray the soil in your greenhouse for sciarid fly. Equally you can be spraying for caterpillars and if
ants are also in the vicinity you can target them at the same time.
When killing above surface pests like cabbage white caterpillars and thrips make sure you spray the pests you want to
kill directly with the nematode solution.
Says Dr. Graeme Gowling, Dr. Graeme Gowling, head of Becker Underwood's European operations, "The great benefit of
Nemasys Grow Your Own is that it provides a simple solution to target key insect pests, with regular application you
need not worry about these troublesome critters."
At £4.95 for 60 sqm this provides economic control that is safe and suitable for use on organic crops. Use Nemasys Grow
Your Own together with Nemaslug to kill slugs and you will have protection against all the key pests, you can then
concentrate on nurturing your plants for great quality produce.
As Nemasys products are not chemicals, they are safe on food crops and do not harm pets, children, wildlife or bees. When
the pest dies the nematodes die back to their natural soil numbers.
[top]
See the Nematodes at Major Gardening Shows
Following last year’s successful season at major gardening shows, the Nemaslug roadshow is back for a second year. See
slugs being attacked by nematodes! Becker Underwood, the world's largest producer of beneficial nematodes and maker of
Nemaslug Slug Killer, is exhibiting at various shows this year. You can actually see the power of nematodes using the
high powered magnifiers to view the tiny creatures attacking slugs.
Kathy Doyle, Deputy Head Gardener at Garden Organic, Ryton, decided to trial nematodes to control Gooseberry Sawfly last
year. Having spent ages in 2007 squashing caterpillars, Kathy was keen to try an alternative approach - Nemasys Cate
Killer!
As soon as Kathy spotted the first signs of the pest in May she applied the first drench of Nemasys Caterpillar Killer, on
9th May. Subsequent treatments on 16th and 23rd May completed the programme. New caterpillars returned in July and again
she drenched her gooseberries three times, a week apart.
Says Kathy, "After the first application of Nemasys Caterpillar Killer I didn't see any caterpillars but as the
instructions told me to give it a further two drenches, I did so. In 2007 I spent so much time handpicking caterpillars
off my plants that it was great to find a biological control for them this year."
Kathy used Nemasys Caterpillar Killer on over 20 bush and trained forms of gooseberries. To prove to herself that the
drenches worked, she didn't apply nematodes to some gooseberries in another part of the garden and they were absolutely
stripped.
In addition to using nematodes Kathy tickles the soil in the winter so that the larvae is exposed and the birds help
themselves.
Concluded Kathy, "We had very limited damage to our gooseberry bushes by drenching them with nematodes and the whole
trial was very successful. We shall go on using nematodes to combat Gooseberry Sawfly and when the Soil Association
visited they were happy with the use of nematodes as well."
[top]
New 'No Ants' Nematodes
A new 'No Ants' nematode pest control has just been introduced to the popular and effective Nemasys range of gardening
products.
"Nemasys 'No Ants' has been undergoing consumer trials for two years and the feedback has been so positive that we are
now launching it to the whole market," says Graeme Gowling, general European manager of nemsysinfo.co.uk.
In the summer, black, red and yellow ants are found in the garden. Swarms of flying ants take to the air looking for a
mate and a place to lay their eggs.
New 'No Ants' can be used between April and September. To apply just follow the simple mixing instructions and drench the
nests with nematodes. As with all of the Nemasys range, it has no adverse effect on the environment, birds, beneficial
insects such as bees, pets or children. The standard pack that treats up to 16 nests.
Says Graeme Gowling, "We had such good feedback from our customer trials that we decided to add 'No Ants' to our Nemasys
nematode range of pest controls."
[top]