Help with (?infestation/?disease) on brussel sprouts plant

[breuddwyd]

After having a scourge of catterpillars during the good weather my brussel sprouts started growing well when the rains started, but I have just found 2 of my 7 plants have a funny grey coating on the head of the plant. I sprayed one with a fruit and veg pesticide and it actually knocked some of the grey gunk off and the plant tissue underneath still looked healthy and un-eaten

Anyone know what this is and how to solve it?

[Nicos]

Hi there,
Your post was automatically moderated so I've OK'd it!
Hopefully you will get lots of help.
Welcome to the Vine by the way

[burnie]

Can't decide if it's a really bad mildew or an extreme attack of whitefly.

[roitelet]

Aphids!!!!!!! They get right inside the sprouts making then almost inedible unless you like extra protein!

[Jungle Jane]

I don’t think it’s a disease I’ve had this before (every time I grow sprouts but not on every plant,they probably pick the best plants ) I squirt with water (with a garlic clove crushed into it & a 5p size amount of hand soap). Try to remove as much as you can,you see patches of it under leaves too.

[Vince G]

defo aphids. you can take a forceful hose to them to wash them off to a certain degree

[breuddwyd]

update

I used a hose to blow off most of the grey stuff (I still can't work out what it is, if it's a tiny insect they aren't moving around much, and some of the bigger flakes are definitly not part of a creature), managed to get mostly clean, opened up the leaves as much as I could as it had gotten into the innermost nooks and crannies. The brussel sprouts themselves are still extremely tiny, with no visible grey gunk on them, so I hope they havent been gotten into as no prospect of washing them off inside.

Last night I squirted the leaves with water with fairy liquid in, though now I'm worried I had more soap to water than someone mentioned above...will that hurt the plant, should I go hose some more to wash it off?
If they are insects and I've washed them into the soil around the plants, will they climb back up?

[Jungle Jane]

Should be fine but they reproduce fast,the washing up liquid would suffocate them I think,I don’t think they can climb back up,give it a day of rest then the next day squirt them again,it’s an endless thing but not as bad as the moths & caterpillars,they’re so destructive! The hard bits of grey are their soot coloured secretion.

[Snoop Puss]

Hello and welcome, breuddwyd. Definitely aphids. I get the same thing here. Possibly grey mealy aphids, I think.

They are really, really hard to get rid of as they get into all the nooks and crannies of the plant. You need to make every effort to eliminate them early on as you will find them inside your sprouts when you come to eat them on that special day of the year that we're not allowed to mention till the beginning of December. (You'll get the hang of the mad rules here after a bit )

Me, I squish them and wash off the residue. A bit disgusting but it's the only way I can remove them for certain without using vast amounts of chemicals. I've tried washing them off in the past but they float on the surface of any puddle that forms on the ground and then climb back up.

My only other comment is that your plants look quite close together for sprouts. How far apart are they?