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Hang up sticky yellow traps to catch whitefly and flying insectsPropagate houseplants, including monstera, dracaena and croton, by air layeringRepot any plants that are pot bound or getting top heavy. Tall plants are best placed in terracotta pots

sticky yellow traps to catch whitefly and flying insectsPropagate houseplantsRepot any plants that are pot bound or getting top heavyGreenhouse50 minutes for medium-sized tree Find out how to encourage clusters of fruit on your apple trees

pinching out the soft shoot tips with scissors, a knife or your finger nail.Repeat the pinching 2 or 3 more times, allowing two pairs of leaves to expand fully on each of the subsequent side shoots. This may take between 10 and 20 days, depending

of the plant, attracting black sooty mould, which inhibits photosynthesis and deprives the plant of energy.Young tender growth is vulnerable to aphid attack. These tiny insects (1mm-7mm long) are usually green or black and breed fast, smothering the plant

These tiny, sap-sucking pests may be only 0.5mm long but they can wreak havoc in a greenhouse or on houseplants indoors. For most of the year they are a pale green colour with two dark spots on their back; it's only in autumn and winter

Tiny sap-sucking scale insects. They are 1-6mm long, and their whitish, grey-brown shells are covered by protective, waxy scales. The insects don't cause too much damage unless they are present in huge numbers, but some excrete an unsightly, sticky

. The adults have six legs and a pair of antennae, moving in the open at night, chewing the edges of leaves. This isn't itself a problem, but the fact that each adult is a female, laying almost 1,000 eggs in summer, is alarming.Holes and notches chewed out

that they struggle to have enough legroom and I'm sure it makes them more prone to that horrible mealy whitefly that brassicas get so often. It probably means that they don't sprout and shoot as much as they could too, which bothers me a lot as there's nothing

Jekka McVicar's 10 companion plantsJekka McVicar's organic herb garden achieved a gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show 2009. We caught up with her at the show to discover her top 10 herbs for growing as companion plants.Companion planting

beetle, part of a rather neglected group of small to, in this case, tiny species in the same family - Coccinellidae. And although it is very tiny indeed, it has been used, like other ladybirds, as a biocontrol agent, against whitefly in California. It may