Penelope, we had a slug problem when we moved to our house. Eventually, we discovered that the mains water pipe coming into the kitchen in one of the base cupboards was not properly cemented. The solution was to mix up some cement and press it into the gap around the pipe. We had a similar problem with slugs coming in under the frame of French doors. Our builder told us it was because the frame had not been seated properly but just rested on the concrete floor. Taking out the frame would have been too much of a hassle so we used flexible sealant on the inside instead. That works quite well except for very tiny slugs but they don't often come in.

I've got about 14 different varieties of acers in various sizes and ages and I've never had any caterpillars in over 15 years. However, we had sawfly caterpillars on our Soloman Seal plants this year, which we've never had before, and also I found something similar to what you have on a bay tree this year - never had anything like it before. I just cut off the affected leaves and it seems to still be clear of them. The good thing is that it is nearly autumn and the acers will be dropping the leaves soon, so if you do cut off, it won't cause too much of a problem. And the leaves will just reappear next year as though nothing had happened. For future infestations, I always use Roseclear for all manner of bugs - chiefly because I grow a lot of roses and I always have it on hand. Your caterpillars were obviously laid as eggs at some point, so next year it may be worth, just keeping an eye open for any eggs on the underside of the leaves and treat/spray them immediately. The one consolation about caterpillars is that they're easy to deal with - you can just pick them off - and although they're a nuisance, providing they haven't done massive, overwhelming damage to the plant, the plant usually recovers well and will be fine. As for the "drying up", acer leaves are prone to sun scorch and can get quite damaged by the sun, so I keep all of mine in dappled shade/light shade all the time which they prefer. The red leaved ones appear to suffer worst. But again providing not too much of the plant is damaged, it should recover well, often growing new leaves if it's earlier enough in the season. A few other tips:- during the summer, our acers are watered once a day, the key for acers in pots is regular watering and occasional feeding. I cover my smaller acers with fleece over winter, from the first frosts and then removing it in about March/April. You may also need to look at re-potting yours into a slightly bigger pot in a couple of years as the current one is very narrow at the bottom. If you do re-pot it, mix in some ericaceous compost with normal compost as they like the soil a little on the acidic side.

Not my cactus, but I need help on fixing it. It looks kinda scaly and yellow and it has this cobwebby stuff between its spines. I strongly suspect it a pest infestation but I’m not sure what it is and how to treat it. Any suggestions welcome!

I tend to use a weak solution of washing up liquid sprayed on plants to get rid of these. The RHS website has some useful info about whitefly and dealing with them. Good luck!