Aphid remedies please
 

A 5 year old bougainvillea is suffering rapid leaf loss. Close inspection
shows aphids to be the villains. It's planted in the soil of the allotment
greenhouse.

Main concern is preventing the aphids migrating to the newly sprouted
seedlings, in trays of compost, nearby. I need to spend some time today with
soapy water and brush them off.

Q. Can anyone suggest a spray deterrent, to prevent future attacks? I've
tried various insecticides in the past (can't remember their names) with no
luck. TIA.

Aphid remedies please
 

In article ,
Bertie Doe wrote:
A 5 year old bougainvillea is suffering rapid leaf loss. Close inspection
shows aphids to be the villains. It's planted in the soil of the allotment
greenhouse.

Main concern is preventing the aphids migrating to the newly sprouted
seedlings, in trays of compost, nearby. I need to spend some time today with
soapy water and brush them off.

Q. Can anyone suggest a spray deterrent, to prevent future attacks? I've
tried various insecticides in the past (can't remember their names) with no
luck. TIA.

Bluntly, no. I use horticultural soap, which has the advantage that
you can spray until they drip, as often as you need, but you can
also use dilute washing-up liquid with a squirt of meths in it.
That doesn't stop anything invading, but works well on aphids, if
the plants are small enough to spray completely.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Aphid remedies please
 

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message ...

In article ,
Bertie Doe wrote:
snip
Q. Can anyone suggest a spray deterrent, to prevent future attacks? I've
tried various insecticides in the past (can't remember their names) with
no
luck. TIA.

Bluntly, no. I use horticultural soap, which has the advantage that
you can spray until they drip, as often as you need, but you can
also use dilute washing-up liquid with a squirt of meths in it.
That doesn't stop anything invading, but works well on aphids, if
the plants are small enough to spray completely.

Thanks Nick, I'll try and get hold of this soap. Over the years, the shrub
has been clipped to about 60cm high by 2 metres wide.

I've just spent about 30 mins with warm soapy water. Problem is, some of the
darker green leaves, which look healthy, drop off when brushed. I'm hoping,
this is the shrubs safety mechanism?

Also, the plant is contained within a very large earthenware pot, buried up
to it's rim in the earth soil. So should be easy to remove. So far, no
spread of aphids to veg seedlings nearby.

Aphid remedies please
 

In article ,
Bertie Doe wrote:

Bluntly, no. I use horticultural soap, which has the advantage that
you can spray until they drip, as often as you need, but you can
also use dilute washing-up liquid with a squirt of meths in it.
That doesn't stop anything invading, but works well on aphids, if
the plants are small enough to spray completely.

Thanks Nick, I'll try and get hold of this soap. Over the years, the shrub
has been clipped to about 60cm high by 2 metres wide.

It's called Savona, but you won't get it from the usual sources, due
to politics and bureaucracy. It comes in a gallon container and lasts
a long time. But, as I said, washing up liquid and meths works pretty
well, according to all reports - I don't know the dilution.

I've just spent about 30 mins with warm soapy water. Problem is, some of the
darker green leaves, which look healthy, drop off when brushed. I'm hoping,
this is the shrubs safety mechanism?

Yes. It's very common with tropical plants.

Also, the plant is contained within a very large earthenware pot, buried up
to it's rim in the earth soil. So should be easy to remove. So far, no
spread of aphids to veg seedlings nearby.

The advantage of either soft soap or washing up liquid is that the
residue is not sticky and, if necessary, washed off with water. The
soapy water you used also works, but it's difficult to dissolve well
enough to spray, if its real (hard) soap. Most 'liquid soaps' are
detergents, with the same active ingredient as washing up liquid and
God alone knows how many other chemicals, at a much greater price.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Aphid remedies please
 

On 16 Apr 2017 10:22, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:
In article ,
Bertie Doe wrote:
A 5 year old bougainvillea is suffering rapid leaf loss. Close
inspection
shows aphids to be the villains. It's planted in the soil of the
allotment
greenhouse.

Main concern is preventing the aphids migrating to the newly sprouted
seedlings, in trays of compost, nearby. I need to spend some time
today with
soapy water and brush them off.

Q. Can anyone suggest a spray deterrent, to prevent future attacks?
I've
tried various insecticides in the past (can't remember their names)
with no
luck. TIA.

Bluntly, no. I use horticultural soap, which has the advantage that
you can spray until they drip, as often as you need, but you can
also use dilute washing-up liquid with a squirt of meths in it.
That doesn't stop anything invading, but works well on aphids, if
the plants are small enough to spray completely.


Whilst we are on about sprays, what do you all use against Scale
insect? Somehow they seem to have invaded a number of our house plants,
(lots of different orchids and and anthurium). They are also a pest on
our citrus trees but that is "normal".


--
Regards
Bob Hobden

Aphid remedies please
 

On 16/04/17 15:34, Bob Hobden wrote:
On 16 Apr 2017 10:22, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:
In article ,
Bertie Doe wrote:
A 5 year old bougainvillea is suffering rapid leaf loss. Close
inspection
shows aphids to be the villains. It's planted in the soil of the
allotment
greenhouse.

Main concern is preventing the aphids migrating to the newly sprouted
seedlings, in trays of compost, nearby. I need to spend some time
today with
soapy water and brush them off.

Q. Can anyone suggest a spray deterrent, to prevent future attacks?
I've
tried various insecticides in the past (can't remember their names)
with no
luck. TIA.

Bluntly, no. I use horticultural soap, which has the advantage that
you can spray until they drip, as often as you need, but you can
also use dilute washing-up liquid with a squirt of meths in it.
That doesn't stop anything invading, but works well on aphids, if
the plants are small enough to spray completely.


Whilst we are on about sprays, what do you all use against Scale
insect? Somehow they seem to have invaded a number of our house plants,
(lots of different orchids and and anthurium). They are also a pest on
our citrus trees but that is "normal".

I've given up growing a clementine as it seems to suffer all sorts of
things. Our plant ended up almost completely black with sooty mould, and
although it flowered, just didn't carry fruits to maturity. There are no
satisfactory systemic insecticides against scale insect (such as
dimethoate) left for the amateur, and on anything other than a small
plant it is just not feasible to remove the scale by hand.

One possibly satisfactory answer is total abscission. Once the scale's
substrate has gone, then there shouldn't be any reinfection /from the
same plant/. Of course, if you have widespread scale, there is no
satisfactory answer, but you could try biological control:
http://ladybirdplantcare.co.uk/scale.html

--

Jeff

Aphid remedies please
 

In article ,
Chris Hogg wrote:

The advantage of either soft soap or washing up liquid is that the
residue is not sticky and, if necessary, washed off with water. The
soapy water you used also works, but it's difficult to dissolve well
enough to spray, if its real (hard) soap. Most 'liquid soaps' are
detergents, with the same active ingredient as washing up liquid and
God alone knows how many other chemicals, at a much greater price.

There's this from Spain http://tinyurl.com/k6k3g68 which looks
something like it.

That is a ridiculously expensive soap for hands. This is the
stuff:

https://www.koppert.com/pests/aphids...gainst/savona/


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Aphid remedies please
 

On 16/04/2017 10:56, Bertie Doe wrote:
A 5 year old bougainvillea is suffering rapid leaf loss. Close
inspection shows aphids to be the villains. It's planted in the soil of
the allotment greenhouse.

Main concern is preventing the aphids migrating to the newly sprouted
seedlings, in trays of compost, nearby. I need to spend some time today
with soapy water and brush them off.

Q. Can anyone suggest a spray deterrent, to prevent future attacks? I've
tried various insecticides in the past (can't remember their names) with
no luck. TIA.

Try just plain water but in the spray, with a good pressure behind it
knocks them off the plant, this in turn breaks their feeding parts so
although it doesn't kill them they die shortly after as they can't feed.
Also leaving the greenhouse door open so birds and ladybirds can get in
and do their job.

--
Charlie Pridham
Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk

Aphid remedies please
 

On 16/04/2017 10:56, Bertie Doe wrote:
A 5 year old bougainvillea is suffering rapid leaf loss. Close
inspection shows aphids to be the villains. It's planted in the soil of
the allotment greenhouse.

Main concern is preventing the aphids migrating to the newly sprouted
seedlings, in trays of compost, nearby. I need to spend some time today
with soapy water and brush them off.

Check that the plant doesn't react badly to being sprayed with
horticultural soap. I ruined a kitchen bay tree once as the soap removed
a waxy leaf coating and they all dessicated and dropped off.

Q. Can anyone suggest a spray deterrent, to prevent future attacks? I've
tried various insecticides in the past (can't remember their names) with
no luck. TIA.

It is an ornamental so if you really want them dead you can use a potent
systemic insecticide that also works on first contact. It isn't like you
are going to eat the fruit later.

I'm a bit surprised aphids can trouble it so early in the season.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

Aphid remedies please
 

Thanks for all the tips. Another attempt with a few drops of washing up
liquid in warm water. Lots more leaves fell off but there is signs of new
leaf regeneration on the areas that were treated a week ago.

We're 500' up and East facing. I've put the plant outside and giving it a
2nd night at 1C. Kill or cure :-)