Greenfly

[Bulldog]

How can I get rid of Greenfly, without using any kind of chemicals?

[chris]

If you don't class washing up liquid as a chemical you can add a drop to a squirty bottle full of water and then spray them with it. The idea is that the soap blocks their ability to breath and kills them.

Or you can squash them by running your finger and thumbs over/under the leaves and around the tips where they congregate...

Or.. you can use predatory insects. By attracting (or buying them) ladybirds (for example) to your garden, they'll naturally take care of them.. I believe hoverflies / lacewings are the same too.

[rustylady]

Squish them with your fingers like Chris said. By the way, could you add your location to your profile - it helps when giving advice.

[ginger ninger]

I have a squirty bottle with water, a drop of washing up liquid and a few drops of cooking oil in it. Works a treat. OR take great pleasure in squishing them...I love squishing bugs

[Plot10]

I saw Jecka McVicar interviewed recently and she recommended crushing a couple of cloves of garlic and steeping them in warm water for about 6 hours then straining into a squirty bottle and spraying.

haven't tried it yet though!

[Two_Sheds]

The quickest, easiest way is just to crush them with your fingers. Wear Marigolds if your squeamish about squishing

[mothhawk]

I just wait - within a week or ten days they will all have been eaten by ladybirds, lacewings, hoverflies, sparrows, bluetits et al (although I do rub my fingers over the rose buds on the climber by the front door). I don't use washing up liquid 'cos I reckon it kills the predator larvae as well as the pests.

[Jardiniere]

i know this is slightly off subject cos you're talking about greenfly ...but I've been coming back from my plot with stained fingers due to squidging the little red bugs that feed on asparagus fronds...probably called asparagus beetle ...it feels really mean cos i'm a lot bigger than them...but they have to go!

[sulia]

Greenfly.

How can I get rid of Greenfly, without using any kind of chemicals?

What you need to do is encourage hoverflies and ladybirds into your garden, rosemary and fennel should help for a start, both of the above insects love fennel and greenfly also loves fennel and hoverflies love greenfly/aphids for a nice little snack! It may take a year or so, maybe more, but eventually if you get the right balance between pest and predator you will find that you will not need to use any chemicals. You may consider making a very small corner of your garden "wild" and letting nettles and suchlike grow...this attracts pests, and so on....best wishes

[Two_Sheds]

Despite my healthy population of ladybugs & hoverflies (fave food for hovers is calendula & lilies) I have to keep the aphids down, esp. in the greenhouse. They multiply much faster than the predators and are out and about earlier
The "healthy balance" does take a few years to get going: ladybirds in particular seem very slow to get round to eating the aphids. However yesterday I noticed one plant had at least a dozen ladybugs on it (they weren't feeding, just seemed to be sunbathing)

[Bren In Pots]

Wish i could train the labybugs to go on my lettuce instead of the teasels they seem to prefer.

[mothhawk]

The "healthy balance" does take a few years to get going: ladybirds in particular seem very slow to get round to eating the aphids.

But once the larvae get going they go through aphids like kids through a bag of fudge! And lacewings aren't called aphid lions for nothing!

[Rabidbun]

I do weeding out in the front garden whenever I get aphids badly - there are always tonnes of ladybird larvae on the dandelion leaves so I relocate as needed. Figure they're better off keeping my veggies healthy than the weeds.

[Two_Sheds]

But once the larvae get going they go through aphids like kids through a bag of fudge!

Yes, absolutely. My main point was that aphids appear in Jan/Feb and ladybirds don't get going until Apr/May, so you need to do a bit of squishing early on.

(I've not had time this year to deal with the aphids that always cluster on my rosebuds ... but something must be eating them because the roses are flowering their socks off, never been better)