FRUIT THINNING

APPLES, pears and plums have gone through the June Drop. That’s when the trees re-adjust their crop size by shedding some of the infant fruit.

Fruit that remains on the trees may benefit from further thinning. With plums, reduce overcrowding and aim for 3cm to 4cm between each.

With apples and pears, reduce the numbers on crowded fruiting spurs and make sure enough space has been made for the remaining fruit to expand to full maturity.

Thinning fruit will boost quality and flavour. I HAVE taken over a shady garden which has Solomon’s seal plants. In April, they seemed healthy, but then a pest began to attack the leaves and left nothing but naked leaf veins. Mrs. L. Kendal, Wales. THE pest is Solomon’s seal Sawfly, Phymatocera aterrima. related to wasps and bees, the adult sawflies are black with darkly transparent wings. Unlike true flies, they’re sluggish in flight and each has four wings instead of two.

The larvae cause the damage. These resemble greyish caterpillars and feed only on Solomon’s seal. Despite the devastation, the plants seem largely unaffected by sawfly damage and fresh stems come up every spring.

Chemical control is unlikely to work, but you can reduce infestations by removing as many grubs as you can find.