THE CULPRIT It’s this cycad blue butterfly which is doing the dam age. sick cycads Don Burke says if your sago palm is looking sick, the most likely culprit is a butterfly and its caterpillar. The good news is that there are safe sprays which can control the problem....
Fireweed Recently on ‘Burke’s Backyard’ Don explained the dangers of fireweed, a pretty yet poisonous yellow flowering weed that is often found in paddocks and pastures. This plant is poisonous to both horses and donkeys, and other livestock can also...
New Products: PestOil and Glykill There are some new products available at your local nursery which will help keep your garden pest and weed free: 1. PestOil PestOil is petroleum-based spray. Although similar to products such as white oil and winter oil that...
In the past few weeks Burke’s Backyard has received letters concerning strangely shaped citrus. Two problems occur on citrus that will produce weird looking fruit but are not major problems and can be left untreated. These are citrus bud mite and Citrus Scab....
One of the rather worrying things for many gardeners is the strange things you see on your plants. Leaves, branches and even fruit can develop pimples, lumps, bumps and all sorts of horrible things which can be very confusing. Generally lumps and bumps on plants are...
Root rot is a disease that can affect a range of plants in your garden and which can spread through the soil. It can kill plants in a very short space of time and can be difficult to control. Some plants are very susceptible to this disease. Don Burke recently looked...
Weeding is probably the worst part of gardening and you can waste vast amounts of time pulling weeds out of the garden. There are however a number of different methods that will address the problem. 1. Sprays Spraying the weeds in the garden with Round Up or Zero...
The rhus tree (Toxicodendron succedaneum) is the most dangerous plant in Australia. It is classified as a noxious weed in New South Wales and South Australia and those growing the plant in these states can be fined up to $2000. If you live in other states and have a...
Cotton Thistle With their architectural shapes and feathery flower heads, thistles are easily recognisable to gardeners and non-gardeners alike. Although native to Europe, Mediterranean and Western Asia, they have found a niche in some gardens where they are grown for...
Have you noticed that your azaleas are looking a bit the worse for wear at the moment? If they have mottled grey/bronze leaves with sticky blobs of excrement on the leaf undersides, they’ve probably been damaged by either Azalea lace bug or Two-spotted mite (red...