KNOW YOUR PESTS The Vine Weevil
It is one
of the most common and devastating garden pests. The adult
weevils eat plant leaves during Plants growing in pots or other containers, outdoors or under cover, can be severely damaged by vine weevil grubs. Plants growing in the open ground are less susceptible, although the grubs can kill strawberries, primulas, polyanthus, Sedum, Heuchera and young yew plants. The adult beetles feed on the foliage of many herbaceous plants and shrubs. Vine weevils have been increasing in significance to gardeners over the past few decades, due to the increased use of ornamental containers and container grown plants from nurseries. Recently a couple of species previously unrecorded in the UK have been spotted in the London area; they have probably arrived in plant pots and can overwinter in the milder environment of the city.
The adults are all female, reproducing by pathogenesis (i.e.. they don't need a mate), and are flightless, but are very good walkers able to climb sheer surfaces. If one is spotted on a plant, arrange a tray or sheet directly below it as their favourite trick is to fall to the ground at the slightest disturbance and if this is not anticipated they are difficult to find. They emerge from the pupa stage in late spring and after feeding on plant material for 21 to 45 days they are ready to lay between 500 to 1600 eggs over a one to two month period. These round eggs are about 0.8 to 1 mm across, laid in the soil close to a plant; white at first they become brown later and very difficult to find Slow release fertilizer pellets for which they are often mistaken, are much larger and usually the yellow outer coating crushes easily, the eggs are relatively hard. They hatch 10 to 12 days later into the creamy-white larvae which burrow down to the fine roots - when found in the soil these are usually C-shaped and about 10mm long. A pre-pupal stage develops in December and remains like this until late spring when it pupates fully for a few weeks before the adult emerges. Conditions for eggs and
larvae are optimal when soil moisture is moderate to high in
July and August. Heavy
mulches
help to maintain moisture levels, so removal of excessive
mulch
layers and minimal watering of plants during this period is
detrimental to their survival. (Unfortunately surface rooted
shrubs such as Camellias need to be well watered at this time to
set the flower buds, so this must not be missed.) Excessively
damp soils in the autumn also force larvae to move up the base
of the plant where girdling can occur, so good drainage around
the plants will ease the problem. Indoors, the warmer conditions
mean that they can reproduce all year round so all stages of the
life cycle can be present at all times. Treatments
More info. on other pests will be published in future issues of our NEWSLETTER.
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SOMETHING A LITTLE DIFFERENT Car Tyres Made From Dandelions(Article By Ian Hodgson, Courtesy of The Telegraph) As natural rubber production falls short of demand, it’s time to consider alternatives, like the dandelion.
In July this year, Indian-Dutch company Apollo Vredestein rolled out the first prototype tyres produced from European-grown rubber. If tests go well, they hope to start full production in 2015. The dandelion, Taraxacum kok-saghyz (TKS), is one of three plants currently being investigated by various international consortia, made up of government agencies, big business and scientific research establishments, locked in a multi-million pound scramble to find alternatives to natural rubber. Increasing demand World supplies of natural rubber are falling short of demand, which is driven by the needs of developing nations such as China, India, Brazil and countries of the former Soviet Union. Around 80 per cent of the world’s natural rubber is produced from plantations of the tropical tree, Hevea brasiliensis, primarily located in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and South America. According to The Rubber Economist, these countries produce 10.9 million tons of rubber, worth £32.6 billion, every year. Synthetic rubber, mainly produced from fossil fuels, weighs in at almost 15 million tons and is worth £31.5 billion. With demand projected to outstrip supply by around 20 per cent in 2020, there are serious concerns for the future. Falling yields of natural rubber, the monopoly of producer countries, crop diseases, changing climate and dwindling oil reserves paint an unsettling picture. Native to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and discovered in 1931, TKS is a foot-tall yellow-flowered dandelion. It will grow in a range of soils, but prefers the cool conditions of its homeland and similar locations, such as northern Europe. During the Thirties, Stalin led a drive to make the Soviet Union independent of imported natural rubber. TKS soon caught the attention of Soviet scientists. With the outbreak of the Second World War it became strategically important. As rubber plantations fell into the hands of the Japanese, the US Emergency Rubber Programme trialled TKS in 28 states. It was also widely planted in Canada; in Britain experiments were conducted at Kew. Although initially sceptical, preferring to rely on synthetic rubber, the Nazis began to farm Russian TKS in concentration camps, using forced labour. Once post-war supplies of cheap natural rubber were restored, the industry was abandoned, although the Soviet Union continued research until Stalin’s death in 1953. China too, persevered, and produced their first tyres the same year.
Early on it was discovered that, although TKS produced rubber of comparable quality to Hevea brasiliensis, yield was variable. Spurred on by renewed global interest, this fuelled a search for the most productive wild forms. Aided by conventional plant breeding techniques, selection has raised yield from 1.4 per cent to 8.9 per cent of dry weight, with some clones now exceeding the 10 per cent target required for commercial use. The advantage of TKS over other plants is that it has a wide climatic tolerance, can be grown as a short term or even annual crop, and harvested and processed mechanically. This enables it to be farmed according to need, which tree-sourced rubber cannot. It also creates the sugar-substitute inulin as a by-product, and is being investigated as a potential biofuel. Other plants being investigated for second natural rubber (SNR) are the American guayule (Parthenium argentatum), and China’s hardy rubber or gutta-percha tree, Eucommia ulmoides, which yields a glutinous sap, termed eu-gum. The American model Guayule (from the native Indian name for rubber), is another member of the daisy family, a 3ft silver-leaved shrubby perennial thriving in the Mediterranean climate of the south western United States and northern Mexico. Although initially wild-sourced, it was field-grown from 1910 into the Thirties. As with TKS, war raised its importance. The US government invested around $40 million to support 32,000 acres of guayule. When the war ended the industry was terminated as the US focused on imports of natural and home-produced synthetic rubber. Recent commercial interest has resulted in high-yielding forms being farmed on a short, year-round cycle, the crop being cut to the ground after two years, stimulating a flush of new shoots for further harvests. Unlike Hevea, rubber from guayule is hypoallergenic (as is that from TKS) and so is preferred for manufacturing medical, dental and cosmetic products and appliances. Research has also identified that the green waste, termed bagasse, can be used as a fuel, comparable to charcoal and is also a potential source of ethanol and synthetic gas. Chinese history Eucommia is a living fossil, the only remaining member of an ancient family of trees once widespread in North America, Europe and Asia, until the last Ice Age caused the extinction of all but this single species. Found in the mountains of central China, this deciduous elm-like tree, reaches 40-60ft, is drought-tolerant and hardy to -30C. Although almost extinct in the wild, it is estimated that 95 per cent of the world’s population of Eucommia inhabit the 300,000 hectares of farmed forest in central China. Its bark has been used in Chinese medicine for thousands of years to cure ailments such as arthritis, osteoporosis and hypertension. All parts of the tree contain rubber-producing sap, the leaves 1-3 per cent, the bark 6-10 per cent and the seeds 10-12 per cent, but it is the leaves and seeds which will be harvested commercially. Britain left behind Tyre producers such as Bridgestone, Ford and Apollo-Vredestein have all invested heavily in the research and commercial and sustainable development of TKS and guayule. Apollo is an industry partner of the EU-based Production and Exploitation of Alternative Rubber and Latex Sources (EU-Pearls), the European consortium involving 10 partners in seven countries: France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Holland, the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan and the United States. Crops will be grown where most suited. The US will grow TKS in the north and already grows guayule in the south, while Canada recently approved growing TKS. In Europe, Germany grows TKS, with Holland extracting the rubber for the Apollo prototype tyres. China plans to grow all four, TKS in the north, Eucommia and guayule in the centre and Hevea in the south. So where is the UK in all of this? Well, nowhere. Our native dandelions don’t contain enough rubber to be commercially useful. We’re not part of any European initiative. Agencies that would be involved if we were say there is no political or commercial will to become involved. So while the rest of the world drives this technology forward, the dandelions of Britain will continue to reign as pests supreme. |
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Well - that's it for another issue friends. The last one for 2012. For all those of you who celebrate & get involved in the commercial manic mass madness called Christmas then I wish you a merry and happy Christmas & New Year. For those who don't then have a nice relaxing break. If you would like to write something for our future NEWS-LETTER then all contributions are gratefully accepted. You can contact me via either of our two web-sites: |
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If you have any friends or gardening acquaintances who you think would like our news-letter and would benefit from it then by all means point them towards our news-letter archive on the web-site where they can also subscribe on-line to receive the publication by e-mail - it's FREE!
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Until the next time - keep yourselves warm (or cool for those in warmer climes), and safe, but above all have fun & ENJOY on your allotment plot or in your garden! |
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LETTER - that'll be because your e-mail address is
registered with both
our Aeron Vale Allotment
Society &
Gardeners Chat-Shed web-sites.
Consequently it will have been
automatically added to both
data-bases. No harm done - just delete
the second one to arrive! Simples!
Droughts
in America has meant that grain is in short supply. T
Similarly,
here in the UK crop failures this year have been very high - due
to the opposite cause - rain & floods. Potatoes especially have
also been hit by more blight than usual, due to the unseasonal
weather providing an ideal breeding ground for it. Heavy
rainfall in the UK has also led to the failure of much of our
tree based fruit crops, and wheat has also suffered. Cue high
prices in the shops for potatoes (along with bread, it's the
main source of carbohydrates in our food, a "bulk" & staple part
of our diet). But it doesn't end there. It seems that with the
shortage of potatoes for consumption, the available supply of
seed potatoes for next year's planting is also drastically
reduced. When I spoke to Ian Barbour (from
It's
been almost impossible to get a day to pick anything. If it's
not too cold & wet to go on the lottie, then the ground has been
water-logged and it's impossible to get anything out of it.
Turning the soil over for winter has also been out of the
question due to the autumn weather. However, the odd day does
present itself. Here's a photo of my beloved picking some
beetroot on the 8th of this month. Amazingly I've had quite good
success with beetroot this year - despite the weather. 
Stand
Still & Look Straight Ahead Please Mr Marrow!
Hugh
Fearnley-Whittingstall's Allotment Halves Anti-social Behaviour
Vine
weevil is a beetle that attacks a wide range of plants, both
indoors and outdoors, but especially plants grown in containers.
spring and summer, but it is the grubs that cause the most
damage over autumn and winter when they feed on plant roots,
causing wilting, and often plant death.
Their
presence is shown by semi-circular notches eaten into the edges
of leaves, most notably on evergreen shrubs like Rhododendron,
Euonymus, Azalea and Camellia. This damage by the adults is not
fatal, just unsightly (although is a good indicator that there
will be eggs, and larvae hatching in the autumn). The real
damage is done by the larvae or grubs, which
Mention
dandelion and a shudder
wriggles down most
gardeners’ spines.
Scourge of lawns,
borders, patios and
allotments, they’re a
major reason why we
spend a fortune on weed
killer or hours bent
double, extracting their
thong-like roots. Now, a
species of Russian
dandelion is set to
become one of the most
important plants on the
planet, propping up
civilisation with rubber
made from the glutinous,
milky sap found in its
roots. 
Improving yields
