Take action against lurking pests

Take action against lurking pests hoping to camp out in your greenhouse this winter - if you don't deal with them now they'll be waiting to infest your crops from for the moment you start planting next year.

Winters are getting warmer, and that means pests are finding it easier to snuggle down in nooks and crannies. Not only are they occasionally active during the winter – they also get going far earlier in spring.

Fumigating the greenhouse with a sulphur candle, available from our garden centre here in Co. Limerick, is a quick and easy way to get right into the most inaccessible of crannies to kill off lurking nasties: close all vents and doors, and wait 12 hours before reopening the greenhouse.

Back this treatment up with a thorough clean-out, to make sure no more insects move back in when you're not looking. Remove empty pots and old compost – ideal overwintering quarters for bugs – then mix up some disinfectant and scrub glass and frame with a stiff brush, going right into the channels between the glass and the frame (plastic plant labels are great for dislodging wedged-in grime). Finish up by scrubbing the staging too before returning it to a pristine, and pest-free greenhouse till spring.