Aphid control vs beneficial insects

[Bohobumble]

I've seen a couple of posts about aphids but they've not really answered my question.

I have been using vitax's pest control thing which has been pretty good but expensive. I decided to increase the beneficial insect quotient and invested in some native ladybird nymphs that are happily munching away on the ones I missed with the spray.

I probably won't buy the vitax stuff again for new crops as my Nanna recommended cod liver oil to me which made a lot of sense.

So to my question:

If I were to spray newer crops with cod liver oil solution, would I harm the ladybirds and any little nymphs? I don't know if they are 'soft bodied' which is what this spray appears to target? Would I risk targeting any other types of insects which are also beneficial?

[Jungle Jane]

Coating any insect in oil would suffocate them,I wouldn't risk it now the ladybirds & nymphs have been released,it's a bit risky if a nymph was to walk under the plant with oil dripping off the leaves. Plus the aphids are their food source for the next few weeks,hopefully they'l lay eggs on the plants too. They can take a couple of weeks to eat through the aphids,squashing by hand,or squirting with plain water I think would be best if you have millions.
If the plants were sprayed with oil & then the ladybirds/nymphs released,they wouldn't be eating the plant tissue like aphids do so they wouldn't be harmed. I'm having problems with aphids here too,saw one ladybird in my garden,he has a feast ahead of him!

[mothhawk]

Most insects use their feet and legs to clean themselves, including their antennae, so if they settle on an oil coated leaf, they are going to spread the oil off their feet onto themselves at some stage. Think of the bumblebees, hoverflies, lacewings, solitary wasps, and dozens of other insects you'll be potentially coating in oil. Leave it all alone and nature will balance it out.

A year or two ago I had runner bean leaves so coated in blackfly I could hardly see any green, but in less than a week I couldn't find a single one. They had all been disposed of by predators.

I never use any sprays at all, but I do believe in mixing crops up so there is not a huge area of any one plant.

[4390evans]

For aphid in the future i would highly recommend the chilli and garlic spray. I hd them this year on my leeks after 4 days and 2 sprays they were gone

[roitelet]

If you eradicate the aphids by whatever means you won't get any of the beneficial insects. I kept the aphids under control in the tunnel with soft soap in the early in the year. As soon as it warmed up enough the beneficial insects moved I and I have not had to use anything since. They require a food source or they won't come and eat the aphids.

[mothhawk]

It takes a while to balance out, if you've been using something to kill aphids you've also been killing their predators.

You have to bite the bullet and use nothing, put up with seeing aphids on everything and the first year maybe suffering quite a bit of damage and loss. But resist, resist! The next year predators will move in and control the pests for you.

A few weeks ago I had aphids all over the young leaves and shoots of my two young apple trees, but every time I examined them, there were also hoverflies, well, hovering (as they do) around the apple trees. The aphids have now all gone, leaving just a very few mis-shapen leaves and a few with brown patches. Nothing the trees can't recover from. So I guess hoverfly babies scoffed the lot.

[Thelma Sanders]

When there are loads, I just squash the blackfly with my fingers - gets rid of most, so the plants don't suffer too much, but still leaves food for the predators

[Jungle Jane]

I've never used oil,mostly I squash by hand,but I had millions of aphids everyday on my Victoria plum,so I used a garlic & soap spray & had great results. Aphids haven't been much of a problem,hardly any on my runner beans,aphids were really attracted to my nasturtiums which made them easy to find,one plant has been quite destroyed,but it's ok there are more.