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Hello,
I feel my garden is being invaded. I have blackfly on the sorrel, sunflowers, marjoram, spinach, tomatoes, melons, squashes, courgettes, cucumbers, beans, beetroot, ivy… It started in spring on the broad beans, and I removed every part of the plants as soon as I saw an infestation, but it’s just spread out of control. I’ve tried spraying with dilute Fairy Liquid, which seems to kill the ones it hits, but also wilts the leaves of the plants and sets them back significantly. Maybe I should use ecover (the ingredients didn’t look very different), or maybe I need to dilute it more? It also takes huge amounts of time to find them all and spray them when they are so widespread. Does anyone have any tips? Is my garden a haven for blackfly and is there anything I can do to make it less attractive next year? I have a ladybird house, but haven’t seen many ladybirds. This is my first year of proper vegetable gardening, and I fear my harvests will be dismal. I thought blackfly was only a problem on broad beans, and they were even sown last autumn.
Thanks,
Katrine.You have had a difficult spring for a first year, most of us are affected by blackly. I had not previously seen it on so many other plants.
However I notice that plants under stress from dry conditions are the worst affected. Simply watering the soil will help, if you have sufficient water. I do not use soapy sprays as I suspect they are not good for predators e.g. if one eats soapy aphids! Just water enough to have plants growing healthily, mulch soil if possible.Hi Katrine,
that does sound very difficult. I mainly have blackfly on the broad beans and on the odd other plant. I spray with diluted organic washing up liquid, maybe 1+9 which hasn’t harmed my plants, and have planted nasturtiums next to them. Blackfly is supposed to prefer nasturtiums to veg, have to see yet though if it works.
Helle
I had aphids on currants, partly cured with a ring of pyrethrum around the base to kill the ants that farmed them. Otherwise none. I have a lot of flowers in the garden, mainly herbs and sedum, plus raspberries etc, so maybe they pull in predators? I use fine netting on some roots and pak choi, maybe that helps too.
Yes, the ants protect the aphids from predators, since the aphids are a source of food. The first year after planting two blackcurrant plants, I found the entire stems, and the curled up leaves at the top, covered in a layer of soil. You could not see the stems. I can only assume this was done by the ants for some reason, although I have been unable to find accounts of such behaviour online. It was quite bizarre. Boiling water is said to be good to kill ants in the nest, if not near plants. Keeping soil wet as said helps. I use dilute squeazy to spray currant plants, just a small bit in a litre of water. It might harm some plants though. I do use ant powder around the nests, it is not organic (well, pyrethrum is said to be, but really it is a chemical albeit low toxicity). They do have some benefit, as some ant species are required for some butterfly species to survive! But I assume garden ants are unwanted pests.
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