Green fly invasion
Penny19
Posts: 53
I have a beautiful honeysuckle with flame coloured blooms (from what I have seen of them) but they are just irresistible to greenfly. The plant is covered in blooms once again but they are just smothered in greenfly. I have tried the usual remedies, jetting off with water, washing up liquid and once or twice (and not with any wish to do it) insecticide but nothing seems to do the job. Any suggestions? Or do I give up and chop it down (or keep it as a sacrificial victim for the rest of the garden!!)
0
Posts
Encourage bluetits into the area ... they've stripped my plants of the greenfly that were there earlier in the year.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
If you've already tried washing up liquid and insectices, you may be best to leave it as a sacrifice as Honeysuckle is pretty damn tough and other plants may not get eaten alive... hopefully
. The danger is that they will move onto other plants though.
This year, aphids are a plague of epic proportions, destroying new flowers and buds of anything that remotely tickles their taste buds.
Earwigs, wasps, hoverfly larvae, ladybirds, lacewings etc are key predators but they don't seem to be around in sufficient numbers at present... but will be in for a feast when they finally get their backsides into gear.
Think we've got them all
Sadly, if you've used insecticides, the key predators are probably not around
Last edited: 29 May 2017 13:26:15
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Agreed with the insecticides usage at this time of year
But having seen so many plants affected (rose buds/new flowers in particular) which have not been sprayed with anything, there doesn't seem to be any signs of predators. Maybe the 'good guys' are so spoilt for choice, they are busy elsewhere - or too fat to fly
Not this year, I haven't Only once a few years ago. Don't like them any better than you do. And judging by the quantity of bees in my garden I don't think I have caused too much harm. I have blue tits in the garden - I just think the quantity of the little green devils is too big.
The predator populations always take a while to build up as they don't breed as fast as the aphids. Should catch up eventually. I'm finding aphids a real nuisance on seedlings in the greenhouse, however many I squash, but mature plants outside should be able to cope unaided (irritating if they're all over the flowers though).
Aphids in any case are an important food for the birds and other species that eat them, so worth tolerating on their account.
Have you tried buying ladybird or hoverfly larvae? I've done this to fairly good effect in the past.
Where from?
I can't really make any recommendation with that I live outside the UK. But a quick google shows quite a few UK suppliers. Good luck!
Have you used the hose to jet them off over consecutive days? I had a similar problem with a rose a month of so back, every flower head was covered but after a week or so they got the message! It gave the plant a chance to recover and now only has a few greenfly/aphids on it.