PLANT murdering parasites are on the march across London and there has been “very little the authorities could do” to stop them, according to the Royal Horticultural Society.
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The parasites – 1cm long insects originally from Asia – were first spotted in Vauxhall in 2001 and have a particular fondness for wisteria. That’s probably why they’re called Wisteria Scale.
Now the RHS want gardeners in the capital to help save our much-loved wisteria from the killer bug, which is said to “suck plants dry”; the little beetle pierces a victim’s stem and slurps all the sap.
“It is something gardeners need to watch out for particularly if they are in the London area because they are very much on the front line,” said the RHS’s Andrew Halstead.
“If you see it on your plant you need to do something about it.”
Wisteria flowers in May, hence the timing of the RHS warning, and the Wisteria Scale’s eggs hatch around June/July, which is when they need to be mercilessly slaughtered.
Insecticide sprays or even warm soap can do the trick.
“Once you have scale it is very difficult to eradicate them but if you can keep the population down you can stop the worst damage occurring,” added Halstead.
Our photo – by andrew_j_w – was taken at the gardens of Hampton Court Palace.
