Blackfly on broad beans

[Johnboy]

Hi Catherine,
If you were familiar with soft soap you would note the properties and how good they are. They do a good job but there are sadly no alternatives that have the same properties. Because detergents have bubbles doesn't mean that they carry out the same function as soft soap. I urge you to just try it.
JB.

[Chantal]

Morning JB

From where can I buy soft soap? I don't recall ever seeing it on the shelf anywhere.

[Johnboy]

Hi Chantal,
I buy Soft Soap at my agricultural sundries outlet.
But I am sure that it is available from mail order outlets.
I bought a 10 litre tub of it a couple of years ago.
But it would appear that 500grams is the norm at present through Chempak.
JB.

[Chantal]

Thanks JB

[Colin Miles]

Like Caz I simply hose them off. But first I wait to see if there are enough ladybirds around to do the job. Last year almost no blackfly - washed away 'naturally' I think - and the previous year the ladybirds did the trick, but this year they have not been much in evidence.

[The Mouse]

I'm not too surprised there aren't often as many ladybirds around as we would like - most people have no idea what the lavae look like and destroy them! Two years ago some broad bean plants on my plot (not my plants, but that's another story!)were covered in ladybird lavae, but I arrived one day to find that someone had sprayed them all with insecticide. Not having a clue what they were, a lottie neighbour had feared the creatures would quickly 'infest' the whole allotment site and thought she was doing us all a favour.
If any of you are unsure what to look for, just google the words 'ladybird lavae'. Plenty of pics. I'd put a link here but I can't remember how to do it!

[alan refail]

Caz

Here 'tis --



Sadly I haven't seen any this year, but then I've only seen ONE ladybird - and it takes two to...

[The Mouse]

Thanks, Alan. My computer skills are not up to much.
Anyway, take note of Alan's picture, folks - these are the good guys!
I saw quite a few ladybirds early in the season, but looking non-too lively on the bare earth I was digging over. Not seen any since. Let's hope they had enough energy for the next generation to be progressing well by now !

[Colin Miles]

I've just come back from an afternoon looking round graveyards - family history, of course - and was somewhat startled to see bright canary-yellow ladybirds plus what appeared to be their larvae, on some gravestones. Have just Googled to see how mine compare with the pictures and they are nothing like them. They were Bright canary yellow and had No spots that I could see whereas all the photos show 14 or 22 spot yellow ladybirds.

[Parsons Jack]

Hi Colin,

Some species of Ladybird are very variable in their colouring, and occasionally have no spots at all. Also, when newly hatched into the adult stage, the spots sometimes take a while to show.

[Parsons Jack]

Thanks, Alan. My computer skills are not up to much.
Anyway, take note of Alan's picture, folks - these are the good guys!
I saw quite a few ladybirds early in the season, but looking non-too lively on the bare earth I was digging over. Not seen any since. Let's hope they had enough energy for the next generation to be progressing well by now !

I haven't seen any Ladybirds in the garden at all this year. Quite a few around and about, but their doesn't really seem many this year