Blackfly on broad beans

[penny]

Hi all,
How do you like the hot weather - bit too much for me I am thinking where can I put some shade on my plot!!

Despite pinching out I have many blackfly on my broad beans. I have put a couple of ladybirds on them but they didn't sem interested!!

Shall I just ignore or ... what?
What do you do?
Regards
Penny

[pongeroon]

I have the same problem Penny. Like you I pinched them out and there were already some ladybirds on there. I shall visit them tomorrow armed with soft soap solution, but after that I shall try ignoring them! Do I have to move the ladybirds before soft soaping?

[penny]

Just read somewhere about ants farn=ming the aphids, They did seem to be all over ladybirds? Any one know?
Penny

[Granny]

My understanding is that they milk them. So they're not actually eating them up. I used to hose them off but think when they'd dried out they just came back. So now I use soft soap liquid. I believe that when that dries out it suffocates them. Of course, I'm just repeating what I read here last year!
-------------------
Granny

[goldilox]

Bob Flowerdew says if you have black fly and the ants are "farming" them, put a dollop of honey on one or two of the leaves. The ants will gorge on the honey and after all that sugar will need protein to balance out. They eat the black fly for the protein.
Tried it on by artichokes last year, and it worked

[penny]

got to be worth a try.. my fellow allotmenteers think I am mad anyway!
Penny

[Catherine]

Looked at my broadbeans this morning and they are covered with black fly. What is the mixture you spray on the blackfly. 50-50 or just a little drip and more water? I did not nip the tops off soon enough.

[skinny_bum]

Hi all I have loads of black fly on my runners, so at the moment I am doing a test to see which will work the best, The soap water, of which I just put a lot of lemon washing liquid in a bottle, until enough so that the water turned a yellow colour and I am also trying the honey tip too.
Let you all know how I get on.

SB

[pump_king]

I use derris liquid one spraying problem solved

[Arnie]

Hi Skinny_bum,

I was always told to use green washing up liquid, as other colours of washing up liquid contain to much caustic, also you do not have to change the colour of the water to have an effect, all you want is for the liquid to froth up so that it sticks to the black fly and kills them.

Hope this is of some help

Kevin

[bigpepperplant]

i tried the honey tip - smearing a bit on one or two leaves in the hope that the ants ate it and then, in need of protein, ate the blackfly. Didn't work at all!!

have now tried soft soap solution - bought from organic catalogue - seems to be working better...

[penny]

I am using savona from the organic garden catalogue which is working reasonably well.
http://www.organiccatalog.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=61_181&products_id=550
Regards
Penny

[The Mouse]

I find that water alone usually does the job. I put the hose close up and spray them off! Not an unpleasant job to do in today's sunshine. Of course, this only works if you are lucky enough to be allowed hoses on your plot. Good luck.

[Johnboy]

For those who are Organic and are using washing-up liquid to dispel Black Fly you might like to reconsider as washing-up liquid is one of those terrible man made products full of chemicals and proper soft soap is the best preparation for the job.
Inorganic as I am considered I only use the right tool for the job. Soft Soap.
JB.

[Catherine]

Hi again John Boy. My OH said to disolve Lux soap flakes in hot water and use that but we had run out so I got our hand soap and some warm water and swished it around till it was very soapy water then I filled a spray bottle and used that. Lets hope it has worked. Do French beans get blackfly as I have a lot of French beans in at the moment?