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Bug on Greenhouse Plants

RANaylorRANaylor Posts: 3
in The potting shed

These bugs have been rampant in our greenhouse this year for the first time. Mainly infecting my chilli plants. Identification would be helpful along with a suitable treatment. Thanks, Richard

Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    We would need a better close up view of the insect. Could be scale insect or an aphid, not clear enough to show.
  • RANaylorRANaylor Posts: 3
    This pic is probably the best I can get:

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    edited June 2019
    Aphids.  As you are growing edibles in a greenhouse, pesticides and knocking off with hose jet sprays are clearly not options.  Fastest way to reduce the population quickly is to wipe them from the leaves using your fingers.  If you then put a couple of drops of dish detergent (preferably horticultural liquid soap) mixed with water in a hand sprayer and spray every part of the plant (especially undersides of leaves), the majority of the rest will be killed by suffocation.  The alternative would be to buy some predators such as ladybirds but it will take a few weeks to work and they may just fly off through open vents.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • RANaylorRANaylor Posts: 3
    Many thanks BobtheGardener. We have been wiping them off so far but will try the spray as well.
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