Flowers & Gardening on the Boat - Need Advice!

[JoelHoover]

Here's one for the ladies:

My girlfriend and I bought a houseboat a few months ago and we have moved in! Lots of space on the back deck and Irena loves to garden. So, we've got some flower pots attached to the railings and everything has been lovely for about a month.

Last weekend one batch of flowers became quickly infested with weird white bugs and died overnight and another little tree had leaves bleaching. We're also seeing holes in the petals of some of the other flowers.

Is the marine environment (salty air - Pacific Ocean marina) having an effect?

Or are we just goofing as gardeners?

Any advice or experience on the matter would be very helpful. We have no intention of taking this boat anywhere, so we want the back deck to be a jungle of flowers and food.

Cheers!

- Joel

 

[kloudie1]

Bugs are probably responsible, Joel.
White flies are a real pest and usually are nesting under the leaves .. the holes are usually caused by wasps who use the little circles like a tortilla .. they wrap food and stuff in them.. A good insecticide will solve the problems but if you are planning to eat any of it, be sure to carefully check the labels and follow the instructions.. Those bugs have found a fine place to live away from the drought on land..

 

[Sailm8]

Of course being California, all of those plants are for medicinal purposes, correct?

 

[Merlin Clark]

Spray them with rubbing alcohol, gets rid of the critters and doesn't hurt the plant.