black fly, green fly etc

flower54 · June 2015

I've heard that rather than using pesticides you can spray affected plants with soapy water? What ratio of soap do you use? Can you use washing up liquid?

Dovefromabove · June 2015

Yes, you only need a small squirt per pint of lukewarm water - I use Ecover. But I only do this as a last resort and haven't had to do it for a couple of years now, which is a good thing because soapy water still harms beneficial insects as well as the aphids.

I've encouraged beneficial insects and birds into the garden and they keep the aphids down to a minimum - when the aphids first appear earlier in the season if there are any bad infestations I brush most of them off with my fingers or use a jet of water from the hosepipe. Otherwise the ladybirds, wasps and bluetits deal with them. No problem. .

Unknown · June 2015

Not sure about washing-up liquid, soft soap (still widely available) has been the preferred option of gardeners for many, many years.

A very useful and effective & organic bug spray can be made from rhubarb leaves, making use of the poison 'oxalic acid' contained within the leaves.

Jolly Gary the Gardener · June 2015

I find using washing up liquid-(the green type)works. Dont use any of the lemon or other smell based versions. They would be more acidic and cause problems to the plant

flower54 · June 2015

Thanks for the advice! I have a bad infestation of black fly on the Prunus and still no ladybirds to eat them!

Dovefromabove · June 2015

Give them a blast with the hosepipe to wash the worst off, then attract bluetits and their fledglings into the tree by hanging sunfower heart feeders in the trees - they'll pick off the aphids while they're queueing up for the feeder

black fly, green fly etc

Posts