LOL When you write things down for others to read, they sound a lot more crazy than when you hear them in your own head! I am passionate about being organic though, so I will try the ladybirds again next Spring - at least I am rescuing them from the ladybird farm, even if they don't reciprocate the favour by eating my aphids!
Christopher-I am not the person to ask-I am quite happy to use a chemical spray if that is the best solution but that is not the way Lunarz gardens as is her choice.
The question is a soapy spray a chemical or organic solution-honestly I don't know- but it is not that effective in my experience.
The trouble is anything truly organic as everything is essentially made up of chemicals-isn't it?-but then I don't claim to be a scientist
Thanks for the ideas Christopher, but soap wouldn't be organic. I felt bad using the fish oil to be honest, because as sotongeoff says, it is still chemically processed and clearly bad for some insects otherwise it wouldn't be effective on aphids. In organic gardening we only usually tend to use nettle juice, comfrey juice or seaweed to fertilize, compost and leaf mould to improve the soil and natural predators to control pests - perhaps the odd bit of milk or bicarbonate of soda to control mildew. It's all about nurturing every component of the little ecosystem of your garden, right down to the bacteria in the soil, and letting it work for you to have strong plants which will be pest resistant naturally. I will take out the lupins and let the aphids go elsewhere - and to be honest, if the next garden they end up in is someone like sotongeoff who promptly sprays them, I wouldn't lose too much sleep - espeically as they are not even a native species
Definitely on the right lines Christopher. You would be amazed at the huge number of micro-flora and fauna in the soil - fungus, bacteria and animals all of which do a job - releasing nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium to feed the plants, helping create root systems, helping the plant take up nutrients and water, protecting the plant from predators. Once pesticides and insecticides are used, or artificial NPK fertilizer (fertiliser with artificially added Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P) and Potassium (K), these beneficial micro-flora and fauna are destroyed. For instance, if you use artificial fertilizer, the soil loses its ability to create it's own NPK and you are then totally reliant on the artificial fertilizers going forward. For this reason, a lot of people who decide to go organic don't have very much success in the first couple of years unless they do a huge amount to improve the soil with compost, manure and natural fertilizers, because the soil has been destroyed. As for pests, in a natural environment, every pest has got a natural predator, but of course being a single organic garden in the midst of non-organic gardens, a lot of those predators have unfortunately been eliminatedby insecticides, so you have to get creative and it usually involves a lot of picking off by hand and squashing unfortunately!
By the way Christopher, your organic friend should also try mycorrhizal fungi - which is marketed as Root Grow, which adds back the fungus into the soil which is used by the plant to grow root systems. When you dig the hole, sprinkle on the bottom where the root ball of the plant will make direct contact with the powder. It really works - I am going to add a little bit to my compost/manure mulch this autumn to help the plants grow in the Spring.
how old are the lupins? because new plants are more likely to be affected by aphid and mildew than old plants.
i once read that if lupins survive the first year of aphid and mildew attack, they build up an immunity, so by the second year the aphids and mildew should be less bother, if no bother at all. The plants can be helped by spraying, cut down the old growth about 2 inches from the base after the lupins have seeded, new growth should be less affected.
also look out for new plants that are not affected whilst others are. These plants will have a genetic immunity. Breed from these plants by sowing from their seed. The seedling should also have the genetic immunity.
Posts
LOL
When you write things down for others to read, they sound a lot more crazy than when you hear them in your own head! I am passionate about being organic though, so I will try the ladybirds again next Spring - at least I am rescuing them from the ladybird farm, even if they don't reciprocate the favour by eating my aphids!
There's a ladybird farm!!-I did not know such places existed-you learn something new -nearly every day.
Christopher-I am not the person to ask-I am quite happy to use a chemical spray if that is the best solution but that is not the way Lunarz gardens as is her choice.
The question is a soapy spray a chemical or organic solution-honestly I don't know- but it is not that effective in my experience.
The trouble is anything truly organic as everything is essentially made up of chemicals-isn't it?-but then I don't claim to be a scientist
Thanks for the ideas Christopher, but soap wouldn't be organic. I felt bad using the fish oil to be honest, because as sotongeoff says, it is still chemically processed and clearly bad for some insects otherwise it wouldn't be effective on aphids. In organic gardening we only usually tend to use nettle juice, comfrey juice or seaweed to fertilize, compost and leaf mould to improve the soil and natural predators to control pests - perhaps the odd bit of milk or bicarbonate of soda to control mildew. It's all about nurturing every component of the little ecosystem of your garden, right down to the bacteria in the soil, and letting it work for you to have strong plants which will be pest resistant naturally. I will take out the lupins and let the aphids go elsewhere - and to be honest, if the next garden they end up in is someone like sotongeoff who promptly sprays them, I wouldn't lose too much sleep - espeically as they are not even a native species
Definitely on the right lines Christopher. You would be amazed at the huge number of micro-flora and fauna in the soil - fungus, bacteria and animals all of which do a job - releasing nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium to feed the plants, helping create root systems, helping the plant take up nutrients and water, protecting the plant from predators. Once pesticides and insecticides are used, or artificial NPK fertilizer (fertiliser with artificially added Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P) and Potassium (K), these beneficial micro-flora and fauna are destroyed. For instance, if you use artificial fertilizer, the soil loses its ability to create it's own NPK and you are then totally reliant on the artificial fertilizers going forward. For this reason, a lot of people who decide to go organic don't have very much success in the first couple of years unless they do a huge amount to improve the soil with compost, manure and natural fertilizers, because the soil has been destroyed. As for pests, in a natural environment, every pest has got a natural predator, but of course being a single organic garden in the midst of non-organic gardens, a lot of those predators have unfortunately been eliminatedby insecticides, so you have to get creative and it usually involves a lot of picking off by hand and squashing unfortunately!
By the way Christopher, your organic friend should also try mycorrhizal fungi - which is marketed as Root Grow, which adds back the fungus into the soil which is used by the plant to grow root systems. When you dig the hole, sprinkle on the bottom where the root ball of the plant will make direct contact with the powder. It really works - I am going to add a little bit to my compost/manure mulch this autumn to help the plants grow in the Spring.
how old are the lupins? because new plants are more likely to be affected by aphid and mildew than old plants.
i once read that if lupins survive the first year of aphid and mildew attack, they build up an immunity, so by the second year the aphids and mildew should be less bother, if no bother at all. The plants can be helped by spraying, cut down the old growth about 2 inches from the base after the lupins have seeded, new growth should be less affected.
also look out for new plants that are not affected whilst others are. These plants will have a genetic immunity. Breed from these plants by sowing from their seed. The seedling should also have the genetic immunity.
all the best x
Last edited: 20 August 2016 13:50:22