Green fly on fruit treas and strawberries

[carnations]

In last last few days a great deal of green fly has appeared on out Strawberry bed (just as they are turning red!) and also on our plum fruit trees. I have sprayed "BIG Gun" on the Strawberries (leaves and the fruit) and also on the leaves of the plum tree. The Stawberries are just about ready but the plums have a couple of months until they will be ready. The Strawberries will be ready to eat in a few days or a week or so. Are the Stawberries safe to eat (after washing of course) having been recenly sprayed with Big Gun. thanks

[Potstubsdustbins]

Do you mean Bug Gun by any chance.

Colin

[rustylady]

Have a look at the instructions on the bottle, that should tell you what crops you can use it on, and how long between use of the insecticide and harvest.

[Two_Sheds]

It tells you on the bottle how to use it (you did read the instructions didn't you? )

I know it's very tempting to rush out and buy every potion going, but you really don't need it for greenfly: just mush them with your fingers (wear Marigolds if you're squeamish).
Bug Gun is very toxic to mammals, and I'm sure it won't do any good to bees, ladybirds etc either

[carnations]

Yes, Bug Gun

[rustylady]

Yes, Bug Gun

So did you read the instructions?

[Florence Fennel]

Squishing rather than spraying is advised next time Carnation, but of course it's up to you. I would wash them thoroughly before eating.

[hamster]

Carnation, Im trying a mix of garlic and water to spray my greenfly, son says it was on chelsea or the news (he is a teenager btw) but I didnt make it as strong as he said, and all subsequent sprayings have used the original garlic just new water. I left the garlic in the spray bottle by accident and its quite strong, but its for the plum tree, Ive been spraying carefully to really just get it on leaves not fruit esp the new growth at the top. I did have a bug gun but after reading the instructions before using it realised that I could only spray 3 times in 1 season for plums (OH bought it ).

At the moment Ive got a few greenfly, compared to last year, I had greenfly by the trillion, ants by the million and lots of wasps I did consider cutting the tree down because the children dont like wasps and it got to the stage where they didnt want to walk past it. After the plums were picked all the leaves went black and sticky.

So I hope this works, I dont know anyone else doing this, apparently greenfly dont like the smell. Im hoping that the fruit wont be affected, we've had a lot of rain in between the spraying. Am trying just to spray when necessary. Hope this helps. If you arent sure you could always google greenfly problem.

[Mr Salty]

I made some pesticide which was from an online recipe made of garlic and hot chillis steeped for 24 hours because I had a bit of a greenfly invasion on my cucs. I have to say it was pretty effective although it's very pungent, I've caught a gust and got a few molecules down the pipe on one or two occasions and its had me spluttering. Seems to work though, no leaf damage or anything like that so far!