Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi,

With the help of Mr Pawty I thought I would try and get a few photos of bugs for ID. Here's the first (probably if many).

I've been wondering what's been nibbling by broad beans.... beatle like things .... we only realised when mr pawty was looking at his picture of the dunnock! The dunnock had a mouthful. So, does anyone know what they are? Knowing that the dummocks are eating them makes me not want to use any treatment. Will these bugs do much damage? I'll try and get a close up next time I'm at the lotty (had to resize to upload so lost a bit of detail)

Pawty

Haven't a clue about bugs Pawty, but great pics! x

We found a green insect beetle like thing on the plot yesterday, no idea what it was but was similar to a lily beetle except wrong colour.

Looks like a bean weevil.

It will be bean weevils the dunnock is after, Pawty. They make the notches on pea and broad bean leaves (never seen them trouble dwarf or runner beans!) and are particularly troublesome in dry weather. They don't do much permanent damage but can weaken plants when they are very young, so I must admit that, when it gets particularly bad, I do resort to an insect spray.

Hi,

Thank you. I'll leave them for now and keep an eye on them.

BUT - looking at my chives, the dreaded black aphids are back again! I sprayed them..... thought I'd get in early. Been trying to do a bit of reading around this. It would appear that this is very common for chives, onions and shallots. They don't appear to damage the plant but are as they are sucking the sap. Apparently what I need is a load of ladybirds, or possibly plant some nasturtiums.

As I said - I've sprayed with a bug spray ( which I don't like using but wanted to tackle them early). However, when reading on line, I'm told to spray with soapy water. Any idea what is meant by soap? Would washing up liquid do?

Thanks

Pawty

Read somewhere that a weak solution of washing up liquid water is good for getting rid of aphids on trees & roses.

Did you know you can buy ladybirds?

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=mad+a ... M:&spf=195

A book by Ladybird about small bugs

The green beetle I saw is almost in the middle

Seen the first cabbage white last week

I try not to spray veg and fruit at all. The blue tits and other insect eating birds are all busy scouring all the plants for aphids etc so are cleaning up well. I usually just rub the aphids off with my fingers if any plants are struggling - bean tops etc.