Balck Fly Invasion on EVRYTHING!

[Demeter]

I'm so excited - I saw the first lady bird on my beans today. The cavalry is clearly on its way

[Flummery]

And there's never a blue-tit around when you want them. They should be eating POUNDS of the things!

[Jmtrevett]

And there's never a blue-tit around when you want them. They should be eating POUNDS of the things!

Bluetits in my garden are going bonkers for any they find, hence why I don't spray with chemicals on ornamentals either...

did have a problem on the gooseberries and currants earlier on in the year but nipped out all young tasty new growth and squished any I found and so far they've not been back!

Now I've gone and jinxed myself haven't I?

Jess

[vegman]

Sprays be organic or not dont discriminate against good or bad insects. and they cost money! Better to practice longer term management by encouraging a propper balance of predator v pest population.

leave a patch of nettles to grow, The nettle aphid is vital food for ladybird lava. plant fennel in the vegbeds as many hundreds of different insects visit the flowers. place some roof tiles on the plot to give shelter and encorage predator beetles etc.

may sound a bit 'hippy' or mamby pamby to some but the old hay meadows of my youth never had chemicals sprayed on them and they survived due top 'balance'.

Nip out the centre of the braod beans when the base pods have formed and steam th eleaves for dinner. You wont get black fly on them and I think that broad beans will have attracted the aphid in the firsat place as they are earlier maturing.

[zazen999]

I read once that putting home made compost at the base of plants with blackfly wiped them out overnight; I do this regularly [not saying that this is the cure] but I haven't had ANY blackfly this year.

I also nip out the top when the beans reach a decent size. And I spray with weak washing up liquid at the first sign of a greenfly! It seems to keep them down, but I try and look for baddies whenever I am out and about in the garden/lottie.

Saying that tonight I will probably find blackfly everywhere; that's what usually happens when I open my big mouth!

[moggssue]

Last year, in my garden, I grew sweetpeas with my broadies and n'ary a single black fly. This year, on the lottie, thousands of the little b****rs! Did the sweetpeas disguise the broadies?? or is it just being on a lottie with a concentration of goodies for insects? Whatever the cause, this year I'm squishing and squashing like a demented person but there are still hundreds more of them than me. And I havent seen any ladybirds or the like either?