[Ma Lowe]

After a lovely weekend away with Pa Lowe we came back to a few problems.

Firstly we bought 2 grape vines for the greenhouse  about a month ago. We planted the roots outside of the greenhouse and fed the vine under the greenhouse frame to the inside. I noticed last week some marks on the leaves but couldn't see anything so left it but yesterday some of the leaves had small light grey patches underneath and where these patches are the top surface is raised. Some of the leaves looked like they had been eaten and curled over with something crawling in them. I am assuming it is red spider mite which I am surprised it has taken hold so quick considering this year I put the candle in the greenhouse as well as the yearly clean with Jayes fluid.
If it is red spider mite is there anything I can do or is the vine to be destroyed. E other vine so far is ok.

Secondly my pea plants which were sown straight into the ground on the lottie and are about 2" high now have nibble marks on some of them. After reading another post it looks like the pea weevil might have had them. Is there anything to be done about these or do I just leave them and keep everything crossed they don't eat all 3 x 24ft rows of them.

I seem to be having more problems this year with growing things (as others have also commentd on) but then it is the first time I have grown peas (other than the few we did a few years a go in the garden) and first time ever we have had a grape vine.

Your help and advise is much appreciated. 

[mumofstig]

I can't answer the grape vine question, sorry.

With the peas they usually grow through weevil attack. They slow up for a while, but carry on to crop successfully  Mine are the same this year 

RHS advice re treatment here
http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=800

[New shoot]

Re the grape vines - red spider are sap suckers so don't eat leaves.  They are almost microscopic and the main symptoms are speckled/mottled leaves and a very fine webbing over leaf surfaces and stems.

They are difficult to treat with pesticide, but you can buy a biological control called Phytoseiulus by mail order and it works well.  I've used it at work before at a previous job.  The commercial pesticides for red spider are pretty nasty and I didn't fancy using them 

Unfurl a leaf and investigate.  It could be tiny caterpillars that are rolling the leaves up with silk for protection, or aphids that are making the leaf curl and are crawling around in there.  If they are aphids (also sap suckers), can you descibe the munching.  If it is notches around the leaf edges, that could be adult vine weevil - they love vines 

[Ma Lowe]

Just took some photos of the leaves that we removed (don't know if that was the right thing to do)

[New shoot]

I don't think that is red spider, but it looks like a pretty established aphid infestation and the plants are suffering a bit.  The raised lumps could be bugs cutting through veins in the leaf to get at sap.  There are a few that do this and you get that blistered raised look where they have attacked.

Bug spray and a good feed to give the plants a boost should do it    you aren't going to be harvesting anything for quite a while, so a systemic bug killer like Provado could be worth using.  It will get anything lurking under leaves or creeping out to feed when you aren't looking  

[Ma Lowe]

I don't think that is red spider, but it looks like a pretty established aphid infestation and the plants are suffering a bit.  The raised lumps could be bugs cutting through veins in the leaf to get at sap.  There are a few that do this and you get that blistered raised look where they have attacked.

Bug spray and a good feed to give the plants a boost should do it    you aren't going to be harvesting anything for quite a while, so a systemic bug killer like Provado could be worth using.  It will get anything lurking under leaves or creeping out to feed when you aren't looking

Thank you New Shoot. Would feeding them with a comfrey tea be ok or is there a specialist feed they should have. Also the vine is about 2 feet high and needs to be about 4ft to reach the greenhouse eves and then we can train 2 shoots in opposite directions across the roof. Do we take all fruit off for this year?

[New shoot]

I think comfrey tea would be fine   

My vine is outside and I didn't get fruit in the first year, some in the second and then loads ever since.  If you get fruit, you could thin the bunches to have just a couple on each vine.  It would be a shame not to taste some homegrown greenhouse grapes if you get the chance 

[Ma Lowe]

Thank you New Shoot. Just got some of the provado and will give them a nice comfrey tea