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Soap spray

Like everyone it seems, I'm overwhelmed by greenfly and whitefly.  I tend to only use soap spray (made with washing up liquid) on the roses, as I like to leave the rest for the birds/insects.  However I'm now getting overwhelmed with them, particularly in the greenhouse.

Is there anything that won't stand up to a spray with the soap?  They're mostly on my tomatoes, lemon tree and aubergines...it's these I would like to spray.

Thanks in advance!

Posts

  • if there in the greenhouse why not try hanging yellow sticky traps up and giveing the plants a shake that way they get attracted to the yellow and once they stick they cant get off.. if not just try a simple greenfly bug killer but i use the yellow traps and it works a treat in my greenhoise image someone told me aswell when you water the roses etc... if using a hosepipe u can wash the greenfly off ants also cause greenfly problems as they harvest them for their juices they get out of the plant to feed their young so try controlling the ants aswell image  that might be of some help

  • Sticky traps are completely indiscriminate so will trap the goodies as well as the baddies

    Soap spray is ok as a temporary measure- but you can get proprietary sprays for edibles with a bit more oomphimage

  • lindsay2610lindsay2610 Posts: 100

    Yes LG, but it's the oomph I'm worried about image.  Am trying to achieve an environmental balance so I don't need to use pesticides, but the greenfly are winning at the moment image

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384

    Achieving an environmental balance is not necessarily going to come easy or cheap, and when you create imbalance by growing things under glass, pest infestations are often a consequence.  If you are happy to spend money to overcome the problem, introduce some predators:

    http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=507

    There are a number of online suppliers.  One alternative is to spend several hours a day manually removing them (eg squashing and washing off etc) but you can only keep the infestation under control doing this, not eliminate it.  A second alternative is to make your own natural pesticides by extracting natural poisons from plants and spraying them with it.  Oxalic acid from rhubarb leaves, Nicotine from Nicotiana tabacum (the actual tobacco plant), for example.

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • lindsay2610lindsay2610 Posts: 100

    That's interesting, I didn't realise you could make a pesticide from rhubarb leaves (which I have mountains of).  I'll look that up, thanks!

  • lindsay2610 wrote (see)

    Yes LG, but it's the oomph I'm worried about image.  Am trying to achieve an environmental balance so I don't need to use pesticides, but the greenfly are winning at the moment image

    I understand that-and I know we dont want to reach for the chemicals at the first attack- but there are now sprays that are not all bad-boys-I would just check that out.image

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