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Author Topic: Blackfly  (Read 3237 times)

Millwood

  • Joined Jul 2011
  • Oxfordshire
    • Millwood Market Gardens
Blackfly
« on: July 07, 2015, 09:37:19 am »
Anybody else had trouble with blackfly this year? We hardly ever suffer from it, but not just the broad beans, its on the beetroot, parsnips and spinach!  ::)  I'm thinking its possibly to do with the late season, conversely there's been hardly any cabbage white around and few ladybird larvae.
Chooks, ducks, pigs, Bertie the tractor & loadsa veg!
www.themarketgardeneynsham.co.uk
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Caroline1

  • Joined Nov 2014
  • Cambridgeshire
Re: Blackfly
« Reply #1 on: July 07, 2015, 03:45:33 pm »
A few weeks ago everything was getting covered in blackfly and I was resisting the urge to spray. I don't have many now but the army of ladybirds arrived and seems to have solved the problem. I literally have hundreds of ladybirds invading my veg patch, but much rather them than the blackfly/aphids.
________
Caroline

laurelrus

  • Joined Apr 2014
  • Quainton,Buckinghamshire
  • Hobby farmer
Re: Blackfly
« Reply #2 on: July 07, 2015, 04:16:45 pm »
We've had awful blackfly on the broadbeans!
A friend suggested I spray with diluted washing up liquid, and blast them off with the hose.
It worked a bit but didn't get rid of them all.
It's our first year growing veg and we've lost all our strawberries to crows, awful blackfly, and a lot of the vegetable leaves look like lace they've been nibbled so much!
2 pygmy goats, 3 Ouessant sheep, 19 chickens, 2 donkeys, 2 Shetland ponies and 2 dogs

pgkevet

  • Joined Jul 2011
Re: Blackfly
« Reply #3 on: July 07, 2015, 05:24:10 pm »
use an ecological washing up liquid (saponins) mixed with a small splash of cooking oil and diluted to a spray - spray daily for a few days.
Your trying to dissolve their waxy protective coats and also clog up any respiratory spiracles with the oil.

It does take a few days of spraying

I;ve been clear here so far... did have a problem with flea beetles last year and the annual cabbage whites though it's still a tad early for them around here.. another week or two and they'll be out

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Blackfly
« Reply #4 on: July 07, 2015, 06:44:45 pm »


None here yet.  Whispering so they don't hear me and move in.  Aphids are very easy to squish, satisfying too, repeat every day, then mop up with the soapy spray.
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

Lesley Silvester

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Telford
Re: Blackfly
« Reply #5 on: July 08, 2015, 12:33:27 am »
I have them all over my nasturtiums. The entire stalks are covered. I'm still waiting for the ladybirds to arrive although I did spot a hover fly today.

devonlady

  • Joined Aug 2014
Re: Blackfly
« Reply #6 on: July 08, 2015, 08:39:49 am »
If desperate put 4 or 5 cloves of garlic, lightly squashed and a good half-bucketful of nettles into a bucket, 3/4 fill with water, stir every time you pass it for a day or two and, using an old emulsion or wallpaper paste brush, swoosh the plants with it (it won't go through a sprayer!)
I don't know whether this will harm bees or hoverflies so have only ever used it in the late evenings. It is very effective!!

Lesley Silvester

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Telford
Re: Blackfly
« Reply #7 on: July 08, 2015, 11:33:28 pm »
I'll give that a try, DL, thanks.

Lesley Silvester

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Telford
Re: Blackfly
« Reply #8 on: July 10, 2015, 03:08:31 pm »
I was listening to Terry Walton on Radio 2 talking about the allotment and he recommends blasting with water so that's what I've done. He said it's a bad year for black fly this year and we need to be careful not to let them get a hold.

 

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