While animal rights campaigners have done much to raise issues to do with animal welfare, we seldom hear about the havoc that wee beasties can do to poor defenceless plants. Now the Royal Horticultural Society is redressing the balance by exposing the top ten plant molesters for 2014 so that everyone can know about their wrecking ways.
Slugs and snails have not lost it: they have retained the top spot for the second year running, with vine weevils still in second place. The allium leaf miner is a new entry at number 7 – just 12 years after it was first detected in Britain. That could be very bad news for home grown onions and garlic: order your dopiazas now before they are priced off the menu!
The only good news is that, for the moment, mice and voles have dropped down to joint eighth place from a 24-year high in 2013. Overall, however, the UK’s gardeners and farmers are struggling: the Royal Horticultural Society saw a 43% increase in the number of inquiries it received about pests in 2014 compared with the previous year. Seems like it’s gloves off in the man -v- the creepy crawlies battle!