RIP Broad Beans

[bethduckie]

Dug up all my spring broad beans today... they'd been completely decimated by blackfly. Hadn't had a single one

Bit gutted, really. Had been trying to spray them with soapy water only, but that just hasn't worked. I've managed to avoid anything insecticidal all year but they are all over my runners too and I'm worried I might lose the lot of them as well.

IS there an organic insecticide?

*sniff*

B x

[zazen999]

I never get blackfly on my broadies; but then again I leave my sweetcorn stems all winter for ladybirds to hibernate in; the first thing they do when they come out in the spring is eat all the aphids also just getting going in my garden and allotment....

Can you grab some ladybirds or their larvae; or just don a pair of rubber gloves and squish the lot of them....

[miker2d2]

bethduckie, i'm in the same boat, just sown some dwarf beans in the hope i get a crop this year

[sljh]

Richard Jackson drones on about his plant invigorator being an organic marvel as it offers a dual purpose, invigorates and removes insects, blackfly in particular. You can get his products via QVC but I found it pretty expensive.

SB Plant Invigorator 250ml 1 | Gardening Accessories, Tools and Equipment

This appears to be much better value - and as Jackson says that his product originated from Jersey it could well be the same stuff at a fraction of the price.

[taff]

I have no black fly on my broad beans which is a bit of a difference to last year, but then this year, I did leave the sweetcorn over-winter, as Zaz suggests. Coincedence?

[Jo Sara]

I got a ladybird house for xmas which I stuck near my veg bed and it had 5 or 6 ladybirds in it in the spring and my Crimson Flowered Broad Beans haven't got a single blackfly on them and the pods are maturing well. But, my apple tree in a pot has got a blackfly infestation on every branch tip. Maybe it's all down to variety with broad beans?

[taff]

I'm growing the same ones as i did last year

[bethduckie]

Ah see we seem to have loads of ladybirds (another reason to not be keen on spraying insecticide TBH) but as this is my first year on the lottie, no leftover corn. But the blackfly is so bad they just aren't keeping up.

I will leave my corn to overwinter this year, thanks for the tip

For this year, would you recommend an insecticide? I think I might cry if I lose my runner beans as well.

[bethduckie]

These were The Sutton.

My Aquadulce (at home) are pretty much over now anyway and they are starting to get a bit buggy but not too bad, I'll cut them down soon anyway as I shoved some spare red cabbages in just behind them and they need the light!

[zazen999]

Ah see we seem to have loads of ladybirds (another reason to not be keen on spraying insecticide TBH) but as this is my first year on the lottie, no leftover corn. But the blackfly is so bad they just aren't keeping up.

I will leave my corn to overwinter this year, thanks for the tip

For this year, would you recommend an insecticide? I think I might cry if I lose my runner beans as well.

Don rubber gloves and squish them off; and a good blast of water after. Must cheaper!

[rustylady]

If you don't want to use insecticide you need to squish the little bu@@ers off with your fingers. Or you can use a hose or sprayer to jet them off with plain water.

[Snadger]

Rubber gloves, bucket of soapy water. The soap gets the ones you haven't squished!
Or just blast em off with a hand sprayer with soapy water!

[selsey.steve]

My broad beans became infested with black fly quite early on, whilst the flowers were still being visited by some now-rare real bees. I didn't want to harm the bees but I wanted to get rid of the black fly. I remembered hearing about a suitable treatment which I tried and the black fly were all dead in a day or so, leaving only stains on the leaves where their corpses had fallen.
Here's the recipe for the treatment. Collect (it sounds a bit off, but do it) about an ounce of tobacco from cigarette ends, simmer tobacco in about a pint of water for 20 minutes or so then let the foetid mixture sit overnight. Strain the mixture into a container the next day. Dilute the mixture to about one part in ten with water and add a drop or two of liquid soap. Spray this diluted solution directly onto the black fly, you have to take care to get the mixture right into the leaves which the black fly have caused to curl up.
After 24 hours, check your plants and spray any living fly left.
Works a very satisfying treat!

[Zenithtb]

This could be total rubbish, coincidence, timing etc, but go with me. When I used insecticide I had loads of aphids, greenfly etc.

After reading some post on this forum (sorry, forget which) I thought "Sod it - I'll give it a try". I stopped spraying.

Then I started seeing ladybirds everywhere (weirdly, many - if anyone could tell me why I'd love to know - between the stem and leaf of almost all of my sweetcorn!), on the peas, aubergines, everywhere...

Since then (coincidence, I do not know), nothing. Nothing at all. This is not proof I know, but I'm convinced... Take this as you will...

Zen

[oldie]

Unfortunately selsey's recipe is now illegal(if you adhere to E.U rules). I've just had to get rid of my broad beans as I got chocolate spot, but I've had a really good crop so I'm not too upset.