pest control

[orchardseeker]

constantly spraying my plum tree with black\green fly spray. They are coming back on a weekly basis! is there any cheap alternative to this problem? I have had people recomend soapy water, does this really work

Help please

[starloc]

soapy water doesnt do much other than knock them off, but a drop of dishwash liquid in a litre of water makes a teaspoon of cooking oil dissolve, the cooking oil suffocates pests and coats the leaves making it harder for them to land and lay eggs
If you use neem oil, it is a pesticide as well as an oil so works to suffocate and has a chmical effect to stop insects feeding, again a teaspoon in a litre of water emulsifyed with a drop of dishwash liquid
Both work for a lot of pests, theres loads of more toxic ones, that need to be ued carefully, such as a spoon of isopropyl alcohol in a litre of water, it kills lots of things such as spiders, spidermites, some whitefly : If you use a half teaspoon of citrus oil ( limonene ) it kills even more pests but can burn some leaves so check first on a test area befoe spraying a plant